Introduction
It is important to note that the concept of technological utopianism is a promising idea to strive for when it comes to solving many of humanity’s problems. One of such global issues is women’s health and wellbeing, which is highly complex and intricate in its nature. The fairly recent burst of technological progress opened new opportunities and innovations in regard to women’s autonomy over their bodily functions, where many critical metrics can be tracked and monitored without the need for medical professionals. The given research analysis will primarily focus on the app named Flo, which is primarily used to monitor women’s menstrual cycles with a wide range of additional functionalities to enhance the users’ experience of being more informed and aware of their health.
The app provides a useful insight into how technological utopianism can manifest itself in specific domains, such as women’s health. The core research question is how menstrual apps comfort and secure women and how it can be reflected by the technological utopian approach to women’s health. Therefore, some women are already living in a technological utopia where menstrual apps can solve many of their health problems based on gathered data from active users. The Flo app is a manifestation of a technological utopia for women’s health. The data tracking features of the software are not a violation of privacy but an enhancement of women’s freedom to have fuller control over their bodies.
Literature Review
Technological Utopianism and Data Tracking
In order to properly address the topic and its connection to Flo, the concept and idea of technological utopianism needs to be defined and clearly assessed. Technological utopia pursues a potentiality, which is “already present in current technological designs, possibly to be released in a yet to be arranged future” (Dickel and Schrape 2017, 47). In other words, the notion does not seek to alter the social dynamics and societal forces but rather focuses on the environment in which a specific group of people operates. Technological utopia treats “new technologies as enablers or vehicles for an improvement of human life (e.g., human enhancement, nanobiotechnology)” (Dickel and Schrape 2017, 47). Thus, such a framework fully refrains from imposing management and governance over human nature and being but rather utilizes technological advancements to bring the best of humanity.
However, the concept should be distinguished from the social utopia. It is stated that “contrary to traditional social utopias, which wed social criticism and alternative conceptions of society, in the scheme of technological utopianism, society exists merely as background noise” (Dickel and Schrape 2017, 47). Therefore, people are not forced or incentivized to behave in a constructive manner because the environment created by technology will do it on its own. The data tracking process is not inherently a negative element because it is an instrument directed by the incentives. Under a social utopia mainly driven by human incentives and desire for power, this feature becomes a violation of privacy. However, data tracking is integral and empowering within the context of technological utopia since the core incentive is to enhance human life, such as women’s health. In other words, technology, including data tracking, is deliberately designed to give people more control and enable greater knowledge through it.
Digital Health Technologies and Women’s Health
Before proceeding with a narrowly focused analysis of the Flo app, it is important to showcase the impact and relevance of the modern and currently existing digital technologies on women’s health and wellbeing. A study found that “women value apps or digital platforms that are multi-functional. The findings revealed the importance of using digital information for establishing and maintaining social connections and intimate relationships with other mothers” (Lupton 2016, 171). In other words, digital health technologies need to be comprehensive and all-encompassing because health, especially women’s health, is complex and intricate. Although women still value expert opinion, such as consulting a doctor, the need for a higher degree of autonomy for women is critical (Lupton 2016). The main reason is that “the concepts on health, illness and the body that are held by this cultural group differ radically from the tacit assumptions that are invested in mainstream health and medical apps” (Lupton 2014, 710). Therefore, women do not want to solely depend on institutional medicine and healthcare expertise.
Moreover, one should be aware that the existing digital technologies are useful for women and mainstream medical science and healthcare. Menstrual cycle tracking apps can provide more reliable and substantial information for healthcare scientists than an individual collection of such data. One such study reports that “this information is necessary to support updates of current clinical guidelines around menstrual cycle length and patterns for clinical use in fertility programs” (Grieger and Norman 2020, e17109). In other words, digital health technologies can shape and improve the current clinical practice and care provision protocols since the collected data is larger and more accurate.
In addition, apps tracking the menstrual cycle can be used to detect and inform users about potential diseases on the basis of observed irregularities. For example, the menstrual tracking app Clue allowed researchers to identify the risks of polycystic ovary syndrome in women (Rodriguez et al. 2020). As a result, the app shows a “significant positive correlation existed between the feature and physician score” (Rodriguez et al. 2020, e15094). Thus, Clue was as effective as a medical professional in identifying the risk for the disease.
However, it is critical to point out that the apps themselves might not be sufficient to reflect the manifestation of aspects of technological utopia for women’s health. The educational effort to provide more knowledge and information for women still remains an important enhancer of the promising vision. It is stated that the public pedagogy “approach provides a useful way of negotiating the polarization between utopian and dystopian views of digital health, but it does not ignore or diminish the aspirations or anxieties that arise from these views” (Rich and Miah 2014, 311). Thus, it would be unwise to entrust technologies with full enablement of technological utopia since some educational measures are still essential.
When it comes to data tracking, it is important to view it as an instrument rather than an inherent violation of privacy. The latter refers to one’s ability to have control and seclusion around his or her information. Under a social utopia, there is a constant power struggle between different groups, such as businesses, political institutions, the public, nations, states, regions, racial or ethnic classes, and socioeconomic classes. The conflict creates a need for the use of any tools necessary to obtain the ability to impose one’s power over the other. However, a technological utopia has no such drivers of behavior, which is why there is no major concern around the use and collection of one’s data. For example, the use of Blockchain technology for data tracking and collection provides better “decentralization, immutability, transparency and traceability” (Abu-Elezz et al. 2020, 104246). In other words, it has a range of benefits and brings a multitude of improvements to the healthcare process alone, even in today’s conditions.
Methodology, The methodological framework of the given research study, will focus on the Flo app with an emphasis on exploring and analyzing its various features. The main reason is the fact that the app is considered the most comprehensive period tracking app (Sullivan 2022). This comprehensiveness makes Flo the best digital health technology product in the market because women primarily value multi-functionality (Lupton 2016). The app analysis will cover the colorations, calendar setup, activity add-ons, article suggestions, article library, app pop-ups, private questioning, and recommendations.
Analysis of Flo
It is important to note that Flo is not solely used to track a woman’s menstrual cycle but also a wide range of other feminine health aspects. These include mood tracking, a personalized ovulation calendar, a health assistant, secret chats, daily health insights, and many others. The Flo app’s first and most visual element that needs to be analyzed is its user interface. The coloration and palette used in the apps include the colors are mostly pink and white, with some light green and red ones as well. The selection appeals to femininity by making women calm and safe.
Home Page
As soon as a user opens the app, the user interface provides the number of days left before menstruation begins. It is encircled by a white circle on a pink background, where the top row contains the weekly calendar denoted by the current day and expected menstruation days. Under the number of days left, the app also provides information about the overall likelihood of becoming pregnant, which is denoted as either low or high. The bottom row contains three options: health insights and secret chats (AppGrooves 2020). At the top left corner, a user can access the settings, where lifestyle settings in the profile can be adjusted. These include normal sleep duration, water intake, step target, target weight, height, and normal calorie intake (AppGrooves 2020). These are sources of valuable data to personalize the app in accordance with a woman’s unique health factors.
Settings
The settings menu is reflective of the most desired aspect of digital health technology products, which is multi-functionality. It contains the options for health profile, cycle and ovulation, graphs and reports, reminders, access code, general settings, and contact support. In the case of the former, the app will ask 39 private and sensitive questions about one’s feminine health with an option to view the survey results (AppGrooves 2020). This function adds another layer of personalization to the app with a user’s health specificities. In addition, the survey results provide insight into what most women experience or have when it comes to each question, such as menstrual cycle irregularities. For example, the survey shows that the period cycle is regular only for 43% of women, but 36% of them experience irregularities and the remaining ones do not know (AppGrooves 2020). Such easy access to statistically important information is a powerful feature of the Flo app since one will require to conduct a massive study to obtain such data.
The cycle and ovulation option provides even more adjustability, but the initial values are set on the basis of average data. For example, the cycle length can be set to 21 days, and the period length can be set to 4 days (AppGrooves 2020). Flo states that “the app makes predictions based on the cycle and period length settings. However, if you regularly log your period in the app, predictions will be based on the logged data” (AppGrooves 2020). Additional options include the ability to turn on or off the chance of getting pregnant information, luteal phase time, and the ability to turn on or off the display of the cycle sequence. The sheer scale of personalized adjustability of Flo is what makes the app comprehensive and multi-functional, which is reflective of women’s intricate and complex health (Lupton 2016). As stated above, these are prime metrics in which women choose one app over the other since Flo delivers all-encompassing functional diversity and autonomy to tweak with the software.
Another highly important and powerful option is graphs and reports. The app provides automatic analysis of cycle length, period length and intensity, and a graph of events (AppGrooves 2020). Each of these analytical tools becomes more precise and accurate if a user has a long history of logging her personal data into Flo. The reminders can be set for a wide range of loggings, contraception, and alerts for period notifications. Although Flo has a default pink and white design of the user interface, these elements can be changed per a woman’s preference. In addition, the app functionality can greatly change with a ‘Get Pregnant’ option, which is used when a user becomes pregnant (AppGrooves 2020). A new array of data points become the focus of Flo’s tracking, such as switching from menstrual cycle tracking to pregnancy day tracking.
Health Insights
The health insights function is an element of the public pedagogy approach necessary for the advancement of technological utopia through technology. It can be accessed in the middle bottom row of the home page, which provides access to the library of articles regards to women’s health, well-being, and problems. The suggested and recommended texts are highly useful and separated according to their topics. The latter includes cycle phases and periods, reproductive health and care, finding harmony, balanced nutrition for female health, the weight journey, workouts matching one’s menstrual cycle, female sexual wellness, beauty-related articles, and medical information (AppGrooves 2020). The given function is highly valuable since it promotes the public pedagogy approach, which is critical in advancing technological utopia through technology (Rich and Miah 2014). In other words, women can learn and get educated more on their own feminine health without leaving the app.
Secret Chats
One of the most recent and innovative additions to Flo is the option of secret chats. It is an anonymous community of women who can communicate and exchange their opinions on the platform. Secret chats resemble the well-known Reddit social media platform, where the one main post is made with the ability for women to comment on the content. The comments can be viewed and sorted by the top-rated, newest, and commenters’ own comments (AppGrooves 2020). The anonymity provides a sense of safety, security, and privacy when a woman engages in conversations on sensitive and deeply personal subjects related to her feminine health.
Menstrual Calendar
The menstrual calendar is the main function of the Flo app, where a specific month or year is shown with logged or expected period timelines. The calendar days have three different colorations or categorizations, such as days circled in red, days circled in light green, and light green days, as well as regular days (AppGrooves 2020). In the case of the former, these indicate the period of menstruation days. The days in light green colorations mark the periods in which a woman has a high chance of becoming pregnant, where one day is encircled in a light green circle, which indicates the ovulation day. In other words, such a convenient and powerful design of the menstrual calendar enables a higher degree of planning and awareness about one’s feminine health.
In addition, a woman can use the calendar as a method of birth control or contraception by being more careful during the high pregnancy chance and ovulation days. In the framework of technological utopia, technologies act as enablers or vehicles for the improvement of human life (Dickel and Schrape 2017). Flo provides women’s behavior by making them more educated and giving them more control over their lives, including sex and procreation.
Additional Logging Options
Flo has additional logging options for women, who are given the opportunity to log other health parameters unrelated to menstruation. These include weight, sleep, water intake, sex and sex drive, mood, symptoms, vaginal discharge, and other factors (AppGrooves 2020). Although these inputs are not directly related to the menstrual cycle, they can be uploaded to the Flo app’s Big Data and AI analytics to predict future cycles on the basis of the health parameters of millions of other women’s inputs.
Discussion
The up-close, detailed, and comprehensive analysis of the most preferred women’s health app, Flo, provides invaluable insight into why it is so popular and how it reflects the modern manifestation of technological utopia. The latter concept is based on using technology as the main vehicle for societal improvement by bringing the best of humanity rather than dictating what humans should or should not do. The key aspect of digital health technology for women involves multi-functionality, autonomy, and the ability to analyze one’s health. In addition, digital health technology enables technological utopia through the public pedagogy approach.
Flo’s settings and logging options provide an unparalleled level of adjustability for women, which appeals to the elements of multi-functionality and autonomy. The app’s health insights option and its secret chats on anonymous social media are prime manifestations of the public pedagogy framework. The concept of technological utopia can be observed in action through Flo since it contains all of the features necessary to enable it. Thus, the app demonstrated the capability of technological innovation to enable massively positive change in a large population since women comprise half of humanity. However, it is able to achieve such widespread use because it appeals to women through the features most valued by the users. The literature and data directly support the key functional elements of the app, which results in a betterment of women’s health and behavior in regard to their sexual lives and family planning. The concept of technological utopia is not being forced upon women through social dynamics, but rather technology is being used to cause the shift in the advancement of women.
Similar conceptual frameworks can be applied in many areas of human life, which could include healthcare for men, children, the elderly, and other demographics. Although Flo is primarily anchored around the period tracking, its value is not contained in it solely. Many features, such as health insights, anonymous secret chats, health parameter tracking, and personal adjustability, can be provided for all people. For example, people with diabetes could track their blood sugar measurements alongside their moods, foods they ate, sleep, and exercise. Using powerful Big Data analytics and AI can be a powerful step toward technological utopia, where facts and data direct human health towards betterment rather than social forces.
The advantages of data tracking in health improvement for women are apparent to the point where the target population is more likely to feel liberated than monitored and used as data products. A multifunctional and multi-data tracking aspect of the Flo app is what enables women to have fuller control over their bodies, which cannot be overstated. It is data and information collected about women with the purpose of enhancing their life and wellbeing, and it is not a privacy violation. Although it still exists within the context of social utopia, the positive outcomes of the application far outweighs the negatives. It is mainly due to the fact that it represents a significant shift toward technological utopia, where technology is deliberately designed to better human existence rather than serve the needs of its creators.
Conclusion
In conclusion, data tracking is not a harmful element of the Flo app under the technological utopia since its purpose is to provide women with better control over their bodies. The main research question was how menstrual apps comfort and secure women’s health and how it can be reflected by the technological utopian approach to women. The app provides a useful insight into how technological utopianism can manifest itself in specific domains, such as women’s health. Therefore, some women are already living in a technological utopia where menstrual apps can solve many of their health problems based on gathered data from active users.
Bibliography
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