Wearables and Smart Technology? Yay or Nay?
The common man from a few decades before wouldn’t have thought about the common man in the 21st century wearing a gadget to measure the quality of his sleep, not outside a lab at least. That would have seemed absurd, when sleep is all about rest, peace, and silence, and there are many people who would prefer to sleep naked in their bedrooms, why add a gadget to the equation?! And today, wearables see an emerging market in the big cities.
Smartphones have already become an undeniable part of life for most of us. Our usage may vary depending on multiple factors, but when you meet someone for professional or personal reasons and shake hands, soon they’re gonna ask you if they can share further details with you on WhatsApp? “No, I’m not there on WhatsApp or Telegram or Signal or Facebook” would leave the person wondering what to say or do next. The pandemic made life more online than offline, and even those of us who were not fond of or inclined to learn technology were compelled to use smartphones, tablets, laptops, online meeting and messenger apps, and Internet. Today, technology is almost a compulsory element in all parts of life of the city-dweller, and that includes financial transactions, academics (online classes or registering for courses), job hunting and recruitment, delivery, transport, news, entertainment, and maintaining relationships and socializing.
But when it comes to wearables, it’s still a growing market. You see, the word “smartphones” is not shown as possibly misspelled, but the word “wearables” is yet to be added to the dictionary, normalized as a noun. What’s technically a wearable in the first place? No, not talking about your favourite T-shirt or bracelet here. Wearable technology is any device or gadget that you can wear on your body and have it perform certain activities for you. Smartwatches, fitness trackers, and head-mounted displays are some of the commonly preferred ones. None of these are new, but these are all slowly gaining popularity, and newer brands are emerging.
What’s cool about these?
While the smartphone is very much handy, it still is a problem when you want to have your hands free for work or other activities or simply for rest, and that’s where wearable technology comes in. Evidently, for those who love gadgets and find them useful, but have only this problem that they don’t want to carry a device with them everywhere, wearables are seriously cool. Trekking with a smartwatch on your wrist is going to be a lot more easier than having to make sure with every step you take that you don’t drop your smartphone down or lose it.
In-built Voice Assistants: Apple gadgets come with Siri, Google provides us with Google Assistant, and Amazon offers Alexa. All that you can do with your voice assistants and AI on your desktops and smartphones, now you can do with a much lighter device on your hand, on the run, easier, right? Want to relax after a workout? Find a corner spot, connect your smartwatch with your headphones and play your favorite music.
Monitor your health, fitness, and sleep: Personally, I am still not comfortable with the idea of wearing a device to track my sleep because “sound sleep” for me is being as far away from gadgets for the day as possible. But most users buy smartwatches and fitness trackers for mainly this purpose — to keep track of their activity and rest periods and levels. It is indeed good to know how active or not active we are, and whether we get enough sleep or not. These wearables monitor your heart rate, calories burned, foot steps, distance covered, and sleep patterns. They can’t be absolutely accurate, but come on, this is like having a personal fitness coach with you, giving you insights for free.
And for those who are not fond of the idea of a wearable recording their sleep patterns, Google Nest Hub 2nd gen promises to help. This device uses sleep sensing technique by monitoring sound and motion levels, so you don’t have to wear it yourself. And that’s only one feature, there’s more (no, this one is not a wearable).
They are fashionable, too. While fitness trackers go well with fitness and sports outfits and smartwatches should be okay with casuals, I would not want to wear an electronic gadget when I’d be wearing a saree. (I don’t want to be called weirder than I already am!) And what’s the point of “tracking” anyway, if you have to do it on and off, depending on whether your device matches your outfit for the day or not? Some brands seem to understand this concern, too. There are smartwatches and fitness trackers that are fashionable, yes! The straps aren’t the colors of the typical smartphone and electronic devices but are thin, come in light, pleasant colors, and look elegant.
This leads to many people questioning, if smart wearables can do today or in the future everything that smartphones can do, then does that mean wearables will completely replace smartphones? We don’t know yet. If people would start getting comfortable with voice assistants and these devices can offer more storage space, and for visuals, if these devices can be paired with head-mounted displays, then yeah, maybe smartphones would be not the smartest in the room then!
Disadvantages, Harm, and Risks:
There is also another question one might want to consider: safety. While these wearables can track your health, heart rate, fitness and all that, they are still not going to discuss the subject of radiation caused by electronic gadgets. Most of these use WiFi and Bluetooth technology, and the radiation is said to be harmful. If that’s what can happen with a smartphone in your hand or in your pant’s pocket, imagine wearing one such device throughout the day. The proximity with the device and the time you spend multiplies with a wearable compared to a smartphone. Is it safe? Do these companies guarantee safety?
The market in India for wearables is still slowly growing; not every city-dweller who is either a techie or a fitness freak is addicted to these gadgets. These devices are certainly cool (any gadget freak would agree), useful, and come in handy, but are they necessary? Do you want to make them an unavoidable part of your life? Would you buy these for your loved ones when they come with the latest features with discount offers? Would you let a friend convince you to buy and try one of these? If so, what’s your most favorite wearable and why?
