Ann Helen Petersen , in her article “Big Mother Is Watching You”, describes the prominence that wearable tracking devices has gained, and the reasons behind this sudden change. She discusses the fact that companies are attempting to gather data about people in order to “improve” their lives. This improvement will be bought on by the fact that users wearing the devices will be able to analyze themselves in ways that they could not before. These people now have the power to dissect their own lives, and in a certain way have more control over their experiences. While I agree that the new wave of wearable technology does empower the user to a certain extent, I would like to propose the viewpoint that this technology is a two-sided sword.
The good comes from the empowerment. It is a great thing to be able to self test your urine to make sure that you are healthy, or to check up on your hear rate to make sure that you are not in danger of a heart attack. These are benefits that wearable technology provide. Our lives are made easier through the MimoBaby that allows the parents to maximize their child caring methods, while allowing the more tired parent to sleep more. It is beneficial to measure bodily food intakes and monitor weight among things, if one wishes to keep a healthy lifestyle. The purpose of wearable technology is good. The negative aspects come into play when one talks about the specific numbers themselves rather than their purposes.
While people are able to monitor their lives and check all the statistics of their day, they begin to pay more attention to these numbers, than the actions that they are doing. In our high-tech society , many people are constantly on their phones, and data-tracking gives them more of a reason to check their screens. I believe that we as a society will get to a certain point where we no longer perform activity simply for the pleasure of it/because we want to, rather because we feel the need to live up to the numbers that we are being shown. It is a possibility that parents will feed their child simply because a machine is telling them to, not because the parent has developed a bond that allows them to predict baby needs. Some may run and have a great time running, but will not get the full experience if they are solely worried about the numbers of the run. These statistics have the power to put the user in a certain mindset where numbers are the only important thing. I do not wish to sound apocalyptic in any way, but it is imperative that we consider how full disclosure of our life experience will affect our overall life experience . We need uncertainty in our lives; that is how we learn best. If one knew exactly what was going to happen in one’s life, would it be as much fun? This question can be applied here. Petersen agrees that the ability to rely on ourselves for better life improvement makes us feel more alive than relying on an app. Wearable technology does have benefits, but we must not let statistics distract us from living.