My Nail-biting Challenge

Abstract

This paper is a three-week journey of gathering personal data about my nail-biting challenge. It borrows the idea from the “Dear data Project” by Georgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec to frame a personal experience with nail-biting as a habit for the past years as an adult.  Personal stories and encounters are drawn from to convey content and underlying perspectives from a body of literature in the psychology, psychiatry and behavioral health studies. Data is collected around three questions: When do I bite, why do I bite and how does nail-biting make me feel? Tables, images and data visualization are used to understand the situation. The use of zentagles and elements of art were adopted since this is a technique in art that puts one in a mode of relaxation. In this sense, the data created the opportunity for me to address and explore the habit of nail-biting and its underlying causes as experienced.