Self-tracking assumes you want to see the data. Rudberg Selin, Unéus, and Knudsen (arXiv:2603.22609) found that for neurodivergent individuals tracking masking behaviors, the data imposes substantial interpretive and emotional demands that conventional self-tracking frameworks ignore.
Participants with autism and/or ADHD first visualized masking experiences in workshops, then designed personalized self-tracking systems and used them for two weeks. The researchers discovered three emotional dimensions that shape engagement with personal data. Self-tracking isn't just measurement — it's emotional labor.
Masking is the act of suppressing neurodivergent behaviors to appear neurotypical. Tracking masking means quantifying the gap between what you present and what you experience. Every data point is a record of performance — not in the productivity sense, but in the theatrical sense. Here is when I pretended. Here is how much energy it cost. Here is the difference between what I showed and what I felt.
The conventional self-tracking model — measure, reflect, optimize — breaks down because the thing being measured is already an act of self-surveillance. Masking IS tracking the gap between internal state and external presentation. Adding a formal tracking layer means watching yourself watch yourself. The recursion is exhausting in a way that step-counting isn't.
But the study also found that sharing experiences with peers validated emotional responses and supported reflection. The problem isn't the data — it's the isolation. When the tracking is private, it amplifies the masking experience (another performance, another gap to monitor). When it's shared, it becomes evidence that the gap is real, recognized, and common.
The design implication: self-tracking systems for neurodivergent users need peer support structures, contextual awareness of when tracking becomes surveillance, and explicit acknowledgment that the data has emotional content, not just informational content. The tracker isn't measuring a behavior. It's measuring a burden.