How the Internet Of Things Can Impact Our Health
The rapid advancement of technology within just the last 10 or 20 years has seen many of us become dependent on it. The Internet of Things involves the connection of everyday objects like watches and even toasters to the internet, and to each other, and has only increased this dependency. But could the use of The Internet of Things by the healthcare industry cause us to rely on it not just for entertainment but for our health? The Internet of Things in the Healthcare Market was estimated to be worth 55.5 billion dollars in 2019 and is expected to rise to 172.46 billion dollars by 2025.
Is the Internet of Things Making us Lazier?
It is exciting to think of all the things technology is capable of in 2020, and how The Internet of Things is continuing to develop, but we have to ask ourselves, are some of these developments really necessary, or are we just being lazy?
Benson Hougland explained how the Internet of Things can be seen in action from when you are first woken in the morning from a smartwatch that has been tracking your sleep. This alarm then sets off a chain of events to prepare you for the day. The smartwatch is connected to other objects In the home, for example, the coffee machine turns on, followed by the bedside lamp and so on. But we have to ask ourselves if all these smart devices are necessary and if they enhance our quality of life. In fact, they could be doing the opposite, and this reliance on technology could be causing us to move less, becoming more stationary, which is damaging our health.
The Application of Smart Watches to our Health
Smart Watches such as the Fitbit can aid an individual’s health, encouraging exercise as they record step count, and encourage you to reach a daily step goal. They also monitor heart rate.
The Apple Watch has a feature called fall detection, where if you fall over wearing the watch, and do not move or register the fall as a false alarm, emergency services are automatically contacted. However, several users have reported cases of false detection, which has dangerous implications where emergency services are being unnecessarily alerted, meaning those in need may not be reached in time. Benson Hougland spoke about the potential application of a smartwatch for protecting an individual's health, for example during medical emergencies the smartwatch could automatically send health information to the hospital, and help could be sent to the individual without them having to do anything, helping them to be seen quicker.
Cardiologist Dr. Rohin Francis spoke about the Apple Watch’s ECG heart monitor function and its implications. The Apple Watch has built-in heart rhythm monitoring, so unlike previously where only heart rate was tracked, this update allows an ECG to be recorded, detecting an abnormal heart rhythm, which can detect serious heart conditions such as atrial fibrillation and early detection of this can be beneficial. However, this could also lead to errors, as during an ECG at a hospital, a 12 lead ECG is done meaning 12 different angles of the heart are viewed, but an Apple Watch only has one lead. This means the Apple Watch ECG is much less accurate and could lead to a false diagnosis. Dr. Rohin Francis then argued that the suggestion that the Apple Watch will save lives was hyperbole. This may be the case, but these smartwatches can still be beneficial within healthcare, and their continued development and improvement could see them become even more useful.
How The Healthcare Industry Could Make Use of IoT Devices
Benson Hougland explained the many uses the IoT could have in healthcare and for generally maintaining a healthy population. For example, early detection of diseases would be beneficial, this would alleviate strain on the healthcare system and allow people to be treated sooner, extending life expectancy. Early warning systems for tsunamis and earthquakes would also take off this strain, saving many lives.
A current IoT device able to warn against heart attacks is the Philips Biosensor. It is a heart monitor that measures vital signs and then sends this data wirelessly to a cloud storage service. If any problems are detected, doctors are alerted via their phones. Jeroen Tas explains it is useful for patients recently discharged from the hospital, so they can continue to be monitored.
IoT devices such as virtual assistants like The Amazon Echo can be beneficial for blind people, as Chloe Frankland explained “it can answer requests through voice detection. It is able to search the web for you, play music, set alarms and order things online”.
Ethical Implications
Privacy is a big concern for many when discussing the increased influence of the Internet of Things, but it is even more concerning when considering the sensitive nature of health data.
Potential ethical issues that have been raised are issues with patient data being viewed and used by third parties, violating patient’s expectations of privacy, it is suggested that all data should be kept anonymous, and patients should remain in control of their data and the third parties that have access to it. Further suggestions to protect patient's privacy include identifying the devices which caused private information to leak and put into place authentication algorithms to block any unauthenticated requests. Further security can be provided by protecting the entire network that is storing data by using firewalls and using two-factor authentication.
It is clear that there is still a way to go for The Internet of Things to become a necessity in healthcare. Further developments and more stability in data protection could allow for an improvement in our quality of life if we are able to manage the way we utilise the IoT and don’t allow it to replace every aspect of our lives.
Reflection: My Development Through The Digital Society Course
Being a Psychology student, I chose to do the Digital Society course because I wanted to do something a bit different. I thought the opportunity to do something unrelated to Psychology was exciting and I was particularly interested in learning more about the internet and how it impacts our everyday life. When I looked into doing the course, the title ‘Digital Society’ conjured up images of social media and not much else. The range of topics in the course from smart cities to the internet of things has broadened my perspective of what this phrase refers to.
When I started the course, I didn’t have much experience with blog writing, only completing one blog assignment previously, and it was still expected to be more formal than this, with a set question. So not only was the topic new to me, but also the assessment style, and I found this quite challenging initially, but also interesting and different.
It was refreshing to do a different style of assignment, not only was the blog style different, but the idea of my work being uploaded online, readily available for others to view was different, as I don’t generally post anything online. Another aspect that came with the course being online was not being able to be in a physical class and ask questions in person, which was challenging at times as sometimes it was hard to email all the questions I had and wait for a response, to then have a follow-up question to the response. It can be easier and more efficient to communicate in person but I think it was important to experience because as the future becomes more digitalised, speaking in person may become less necessary. The freedom of not having a question on a set topic was exciting to me because I could choose something that I was really interested in, but at the time it was a huge challenge because I am so indecisive. I struggled with the lack of direction and changed my mind multiple times.
The Digital Society course allowed me to gain more knowledge surrounding topics I hadn’t thought much about before. I hadn’t heard of smart cities before the course so it was interesting to learn about the increasing need for smart city technology in the future to manage the growing population. It also made me realise the scope of the IoT and how many different objects can become connected devices.
I was able to learn new things throughout the course, which will be helpful in the future as the presence of a digital society becomes an increasingly important part of everyday life, such as the importance of attributing images, which for some reason I hadn’t considered before, despite its importance when posting online. I think it was also beneficial to learn about The Internet of Things as it becomes an increasingly prominent aspect of work and could replace many aspects of jobs today like answering phones or different aspects of admin jobs.
