Hacking the "Surveillance Wrist": Seeking open-source wearable strategies to bridge the "Somatic Gap" in University Students 🇨🇱

Hi everyone!

I’m part of Tuküyen (formerly project Sentinel), an interdisciplinary research team (Sociology, Engineering, and Psychology) at Universidad Alberto Hurtado (Chile). We are currently developing a "White Box AI" platform to foster self-regulation and resilience in university students, moving away from the extractive models of Surveillance Capitalism.

The Challenge: We want to integrate a smartwatch as a sociotechnical device to validate the physiological impact of digital overstimulation. We’ve identified a "Somatic Gap"—the disconnect between a student's digital behavior (addictive UI/UX, infinite scroll) and their body’s stress response (cortisol spikes, low HRV, sleep deprivation).

The Goal: We want to provide students with a "Kit of Resistance": a wearable that isn't spying on them for a corporation, but rather helping them reclaim their agency. We are on a research budget (~$3,500 USD for the whole project) and aim to give these watches to students as a permanent tool for autonomy.

I need your expert advice on:

1. Hackable Hardware: Which open-source or "hacker-friendly" smartwatches would you recommend for research? We are looking at PineTime (Pine64) or Bangle.js (Espruino). We need sensors for HRV (Heart Rate Variability), EDA (Electrodermal Activity), and high-quality Sleep Tracking.
2. Data Extraction & Logic: What is the best way to programmatically correlate phone-side telemetry (app usage, screen time) with watch-side biometrics (HRV dips) in real-time? Any specific APIs or local processing frameworks to avoid sending raw biometric data to the cloud?
3. The "Habitus" Hack: We want to detect repetitive motor patterns (the "zombified" scroll gesture) using the watch’s accelerometer/gyroscope to trigger a haptic "nudge" (breathing exercises). Has anyone worked on gesture recognition for digital addiction?
4. Privacy at the Edge: Since we are dealing with sensitive mental health indicators (GAD-7/PHQ-9 proxies), we want to implement Differential Privacy directly on the device. Any lightweight libraries for on-device data anonymization?
5. Branding the "Resistance": We want to re-flash/re-brand these devices. Does anyone have experience custom-casing or deep-modding firmware for a "movement" feel rather than a "medical device" feel?

Theoretical Background: We are grounded in Shoshana Zuboff (behavioral surplus) and Jonathan Haidt (attention fragmentation and sleep deprivation harms). We believe the body is the ultimate site of resistance against the "Habitus Maquinal".

Any repos, specific sensor modules, or hardware "gotchas" would be immensely helpful. We want these devices to be a memory of the students' empowerment, not another link in the chain of heteronomy.

Thanks from Santiago, Chile! 🇨🇱

Hi everyone!

I’m part of Tuküyen (formerly project Sentinel), an interdisciplinary research team (Sociology, Engineering, and Psychology) at Universidad Alberto Hurtado (Chile). We are currently developing a "White Box AI" platform to foster self-regulation and resilience in university students, moving away from the extractive models of Surveillance Capitalism.

The Challenge: We want to integrate a smartwatch as a sociotechnical device to validate the physiological impact of digital overstimulation. We’ve identified a "Somatic Gap"—the disconnect between a student's digital behavior (addictive UI/UX, infinite scroll) and their body’s stress response (cortisol spikes, low HRV, sleep deprivation).

The Goal: We want to provide students with a "Kit of Resistance": a wearable that isn't spying on them for a corporation, but rather helping them reclaim their agency. We are on a research budget (~$3,500 USD for the whole project) and aim to give these watches to students as a permanent tool for autonomy.

I need your expert advice on:

1. Hackable Hardware: Which open-source or "hacker-friendly" smartwatches would you recommend for research? We are looking at PineTime (Pine64) or Bangle.js (Espruino). We need sensors for HRV (Heart Rate Variability), EDA (Electrodermal Activity), and high-quality Sleep Tracking.
2. Data Extraction & Logic: What is the best way to programmatically correlate phone-side telemetry (app usage, screen time) with watch-side biometrics (HRV dips) in real-time? Any specific APIs or local processing frameworks to avoid sending raw biometric data to the cloud?
3. The "Habitus" Hack: We want to detect repetitive motor patterns (the "zombified" scroll gesture) using the watch’s accelerometer/gyroscope to trigger a haptic "nudge" (breathing exercises). Has anyone worked on gesture recognition for digital addiction?
4. Privacy at the Edge: Since we are dealing with sensitive mental health indicators (GAD-7/PHQ-9 proxies), we want to implement Differential Privacy directly on the device. Any lightweight libraries for on-device data anonymization?
5. Branding the "Resistance": We want to re-flash/re-brand these devices. Does anyone have experience custom-casing or deep-modding firmware for a "movement" feel rather than a "medical device" feel?

Theoretical Background: We are grounded in Shoshana Zuboff (behavioral surplus) and Jonathan Haidt (attention fragmentation and sleep deprivation harms). We believe the body is the ultimate site of resistance against the "Habitus Maquinal".

Any repos, specific sensor modules, or hardware "gotchas" would be immensely helpful. We want these devices to be a memory of the students' empowerment, not another link in the chain of heteronomy.

Thanks from Santiago, Chile! 🇨🇱

Hi everyone!

I’m part of Tuküyen (formerly project Sentinel), an interdisciplinary research team (Sociology, Engineering, and Psychology) at Universidad Alberto Hurtado (Chile). We are currently developing a "White Box AI" platform to foster self-regulation and resilience in university students, moving away from the extractive models of Surveillance Capitalism.

The Challenge: We want to integrate a smartwatch as a sociotechnical device to validate the physiological impact of digital overstimulation. We’ve identified a "Somatic Gap"—the disconnect between a student's digital behavior (addictive UI/UX, infinite scroll) and their body’s stress response (cortisol spikes, low HRV, sleep deprivation).

The Goal: We want to provide students with a "Kit of Resistance": a wearable that isn't spying on them for a corporation, but rather helping them reclaim their agency. We are on a research budget (~$3,500 USD for the whole project) and aim to give these watches to students as a permanent tool for autonomy.

I need your expert advice on:

1. Hackable Hardware: Which open-source or "hacker-friendly" smartwatches would you recommend for research? We are looking at PineTime (Pine64) or Bangle.js (Espruino). We need sensors for HRV (Heart Rate Variability), EDA (Electrodermal Activity), and high-quality Sleep Tracking.
2. Data Extraction & Logic: What is the best way to programmatically correlate phone-side telemetry (app usage, screen time) with watch-side biometrics (HRV dips) in real-time? Any specific APIs or local processing frameworks to avoid sending raw biometric data to the cloud?
3. The "Habitus" Hack: We want to detect repetitive motor patterns (the "zombified" scroll gesture) using the watch’s accelerometer/gyroscope to trigger a haptic "nudge" (breathing exercises). Has anyone worked on gesture recognition for digital addiction?
4. Privacy at the Edge: Since we are dealing with sensitive mental health indicators (GAD-7/PHQ-9 proxies), we want to implement Differential Privacy directly on the device. Any lightweight libraries for on-device data anonymization?
5. Branding the "Resistance": We want to re-flash/re-brand these devices. Does anyone have experience custom-casing or deep-modding firmware for a "movement" feel rather than a "medical device" feel?

Theoretical Background: We are grounded in Shoshana Zuboff (behavioral surplus) and Jonathan Haidt (attention fragmentation and sleep deprivation harms). We believe the body is the ultimate site of resistance against the "Habitus Maquinal".

Any repos, specific sensor modules, or hardware "gotchas" would be immensely helpful. We want these devices to be a memory of the students' empowerment, not another link in the chain of heteronomy.

Thanks from Santiago, Chile! 🇨🇱