Wearable technology is gaining popularity and being used in various devices like smartwatches, clothing, and home appliances. While wearables provide benefits like continuous health monitoring and accessibility, they also pose drawbacks such as short battery life, privacy concerns from frequent location tracking, and risk of increased distraction. However, the wearable market is predicted to continue growing significantly in value due to enhanced customization, comfort and simplicity in future models.

1. WEARABLES IN OUR
LIVES:
NOW AND IN THE FUTURE
Source: via Unsplash
By: Anna Zhdanova

2. WEARABLES IN OUR
LIVES
With the galloping technological trends that stimulate individuals to be
increasingly interactive, wearable technology gains popularity among
multiple generations and merges into their everyday activities and lifestyle.

3. WHAT ARE THEY?
 Wearable technology is one of the subsections of technological devices that may be worn by a
consumer
 Most of the wearables have distinctive features such as GPS tracking, health and/or fitness
sensors, mobile device sync options, etc. [1]

4. Common examples of wearable technology:

5. SMART
…
 Homes: various home appliances like fridges are equipped with sensors and AI devices that are
responsible for maintaining the user’s health and diet
 Watches: enhanced mobile screen that allows a user to combine most of the features of a watch
and a smartphone, meanwhile wearing it as an accessory on one’s wrist
 Clothing: textiles and technology merge in order to collect relevant data about the consumer’s
fitness and health indexes
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6. ADVANTAGES AND BENEFITS
With an average mobile user checking their device about 150 times a day [2], wearables save
them time and effort. With a wearable like a smartwatch, there is no more need to search for
the smartphone in the purse, or spend unnecessary time trying to locate it. [3]
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7. ADVANTAGES AND BENEFITS
Health-monitoring wearables can analyze the medical conditions of the patient, thus predicting
threatening situations and alerting healthcare providers that an intervention may be needed [4]
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8. ADVANTAGES AND BENEFITS
Through continuous monitoring of the patient’s health, the data that is collected is more
accurate and informative, improving analysis of the patient’s health [4]
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9. DRAWBACKS
The majority of wearable technology types have an inferior battery life. Due to the compressed
device and battery size, wearables require almost everyday charging, primarily because of the
GPS tracking services that use up a lot of energy [5]
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10. DRAWBACKS
Most of the wearables have a GPS tracking feature that locates the user quite too often –
around every three minutes. This information may be shared with advertising networks and
other third parties. With such frequent location requests, wearables’ apps and services can
become serious violations of one’s privacy [6]
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11. DRAWBACKS
As digital trends become enhanced and popularized, individuals suffer from a shortened
attention span and severe distraction habits that nearby technological devices may cause. As
such, not only will having another type of a technological device not help the situation, but it
might worsen it instead [7]
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12. DRAWBACKS - NOMOPHOBIA
Another kind of technological device may worsen the digital addiction – nomophobia – that is
already a problem to many of the frequent users of technology.
Science recognizes four dimension of nomophobia: [7]
Not being able
to communicate
Losing
connectedness
Not being able to
access
information
Giving up
convenience

13. SOCIETY’S OPINION ON DISTRACTION
With the rise of technology in the modern world, it is important to acknowledge the society’s
opinion on all aspects and behaviours that frequent use of technology stimulates [8]
Out of the study sample, the following proportions of people agreed with the statements:
As such, increasing use of wearable technologies, some of which share similar features to a
mobile device, might actually be frowned upon, due to the social customs regarding technology
Say that phone use frequently contributes to the group conversation
It is OK to use a mobile device while walking down a street
It is OK to use a mobile device while at a meeting
Use a mobile device because they were no longer interested in the group discussion
Use a mobile device during the most recent social gathering
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
33%
77%
5%
16%
89%

14. PREDICTIONS FOR THE
FUTURE
In order to popularize the wearable technology industry, manufacturers will have to enhance: [9] [12]
 Price
 Comfort
 Simplicity
 Appearance
 Value proposition
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15. PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE
Most of the wearable technology pieces will allow for extensive personalization and customization
through such tools as: [10]
 3D printing
 Made-to-fit customization
 Nano embedded sensors
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16. PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE
Due to the extensive GPS tracking system, along with other similar features that might infringe
customers’ privacy, companies may implement the following policies: [13]
 Stricter user policies
 Increased regulations that lead to decreased liberties
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17. SALES PREDICTIONS
Forecasted value of the global wearable devices market from 2012 to 2018 (in billion U.S. dollars) : [11]

18. SALES PREDICTIONS
Smart wearables shipments forecast: [14]

19. CONCLUSION/SUMMARY
 Wearable technology rapidly grows in the technology market and in the hearts and minds
of its consumers
 Their main advantage – continuous accessibility – allows people for seamless digital
presence and superior collection of data
 Despite frequent distraction that wearables might cause, they still remain one of the
fastest growing segments in the market

20. WORKS CITED
[1] Beal, V. (n.d.). What is wearable technology. Retrieved May 30, 2016, from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/wearable_technology.html
[2] Margalit, L. (2015, November 04). Why We're Addicted To Our Smartphones, But Not Our Tablets – Smashing Magazine. Retrieved May 31, 2016, from
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/11/why-addicted-smartphones-not-tablets/
[3] The Benefits Of Wearable Technology. (2014, July 24). Retrieved May 30, 2016, from http://cloudtweaks.com/2014/07/benefits-wearable-technology/
[4] Fischer, D. (2016, January 08). 4 Benefits of Wearable Health Technology - Medicom Health Interactive. Retrieved May 31, 2016, from http://medicomhealth.com/4-benefits-of-wearable-
health-technologys/
[5] Eadicicco, L. (2015, February 05). INTEL: Here's one of the biggest problems we need to solve with wearable tech. Retrieved May 31, 2016, from http://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-
problems-with-wearable-tech-2015-2
[6] Dwoskin, E. (2015, March 23). Where Were You 3 Minutes Ago? Your Apps Know. Retrieved May 31, 2016, from http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/03/23/where-were-you-3-minutes-ago-your-
apps-know/?mod=LS1
[7] Fung, B. (2015, May 19). Why you shouldn’t confuse ‘nomophobia’ with an actual addiction to smartphones. Retrieved May 31, 2016, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-
switch/wp/2015/05/19/why-you-shouldnt-confuse-nomophobia-with-an-actual-addiction-to-smartphones/
[8] Rainie, L., & Zickuhr, K. (2015, August 26). Americans’ Views on Mobile Etiquette. Retrieved June 01, 2016, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/26/americans-views-on-mobile-etiquette/
[9] Postrel, V. (2016, March 3). Why Nobody's Wearing Wearables. Retrieved June 02, 2016, from http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-03-03/why-nobody-s-wearing-wearables
[10] Hooge, A. (2015, August 06). 5 Predictions For The Future Of Wearables - ReadWrite. Retrieved June 02, 2016, from http://readwrite.com/2015/08/06/wearables-5-predictions-future/
[11] Global wearable technology market 2012-2018 | Statistic. (n.d.). Retrieved June 02, 2016, from http://www.statista.com/statistics/302482/wearable-device-market-value/
[12] Rhew, D. (2016). Welcome Home: The Health Hub of the Future. Retrieved June 02, 2016, from https://insights.samsung.com/2016/03/24/welcome-home-the-health-hub-of-the-future/
[13] Alton, L. (2015, September 12). How Wearable Tech Could Spark A New Privacy Revolution. Retrieved June 02, 2016, from
http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/12/how-wearable-tech-could-spark-a-new-privacy-revolution/
[14] Skalnik, J. (2015, March 31). IDC: Smart wearables shipments to top 25 million units in 2015 - EyeOnMobility. Retrieved June 02, 2016, from
http://www.eyeonmobility.com/2015/idc-smart-wearables-shipments-2015/