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As we move towards an increasingly technological society, more and more people are using data to quantify and understand their lives and the world around them, commonly through the use of micro stories (images and text )and mega stories (collections of all the micro stories). Additionally, more than ever before people have a desire to understand the world around them and their identity and place in the world. This has created a huge amount of data creation and consumption. Data gathered from tracking personal information forms what Marc Schmidt refers to as the “quantified self”. Individuals are easily generating their own digital information at a rapid pace. Gathered personal data makes it easy to feel like we understand areas of our life that were not as easily understood before because now it feels measurable. As more data surrounds us, people definitely have been overcome with information anxiety, becoming aware of the gap between what we know and what we feel we should know. Quantified personal information is readily available and desired in a sort of narcissistic way by many individuals. A quantifiably understood self can perhaps help people understand themselves and their lives in a new way, but it is important to use this information gathered and apply it to the individual’s existing narrative rather than using the qualifiable self to define the individual completely. The use of data in our personal lives definitely makes us more knowledgeable but only in a certain way, easily understood as having a friend on Facebook is not the same as having a friend in real life, outside of the screen. An increase in data provides more insight but not enough insight that means its existence is telling the whole story of the entity it represents. Technology/data is simply a tool to use reach new conclusions, it is not a conclusion in itself. In order to be valuable the data must be applied, explained, and displayed. A quantifiable self is not a replacement for the living self and real world experiences. The production of data is a creative act in itself, yet again it is not an end, it is simply a part in the telling of a greater story. Thus it is incredibly important to portray this data in adequate ways. A visually successful portrayal of data is just like telling a story to an audience. Discovering a compelling narrative is key to making data understandable and interesting to others. The audience must be considered and it must inform the audience in appropriate ways. Visually successful data has the ability to change people’s opinions and can inform a large group of people. Data that is not successfully applied is essentially wasted and no progress is made from it. The creation of data is not a completely and truly creative act until it is given life by way of a narrative, until then it is simply words and numbers on a page or screen and little is likely to come from data simply existing.