Wellness apps put fitness first but fashion needs to catch up, say researchers…
Apps such as Fitbeat, MyFitness and MiCoach are now well established for people who are basically healthy but want to lose weight, train for a sporting event or maintain a certain level of fitness. They offer relevant information and take on the role of electronic coach. Londoner Victor Czerwinski, a driving instructor, found that sitting around all day in a car and the stress of teaching people to drive in London made him put on weight and lose muscle tone. Using MyFitness on his i-phone for three months, Czerwinski found that he is now lighter and feels more in control. “I recommend it” he says.
Next Gen
These applications represent the first generation of wearable technology, according to Saverio Romeo of Beecham Research. They are operated by the wearer and hold personal data (calories consumed, weight loss etc) on secure dedicated servers. But coming soon are wearable devices that turn the whole world into a playground or workspace.
Romeo told FI: “By 2018 we shall be wearing in-body technology that will interact with the world around us through the Internet of Things“. Romeo believes that fashion, law and infrastructure need to catch up – and join up – with wearable technology to achieve its full potential..
Due to this Beecham Research, is working with ethics professors in universities and fashion houses to bring an holistic approach to wearable technology. He says it’s ‘refreshing’ to sit down and discuss the ethics of personal data collection, storage and access. “I’m a telecommunications engineer. I look at a thing and think:’how does it work?’. I never had to consider the ethics before now” . Privacy, access and the right to delete old or incorrect data are all under discussion.
These are issues confronting Britain’s National Health Service too as managers attempt to introduce big data pooling, using citizens’ personal medical records as the raw material for real-time research to find cures and predict trends such as epidemics.
Wandular
Sustainability is the key for Dr Sally Uren, the chief executive officer of the Forum for the Future (FFF) think tank. FFF is working with music and gaming giant Sony to develop a device that can stay with the user from the cradle to the grave. Called the Wandular, the gadget starts out as the smart component in a teddy bear, then migrates to an exercise book before morphing into a wristwatch. Wandular’s prototype is touring the UK with a Design Museum roadshow, gathering feedback. Dr Uren thinks it will become an object of desire that will reverse the trend towards short-term purchases and regular upgrades whenever a new device is launched. ” You don’t hear of people getting rid of their Rolex watch” she points out, and she believes longevity and a small carbon footprint will soon become strong selling points.
Detox
Uren also advocates spending periods of time away from devices – especially for children. She cites the example of South Korea, where ‘detox camps’ have been established to wean teenagers away from their favourite computer games or tablets. ‘digital Detox’ summer camps also run in Japan and Okland, California to encourage youngsters to get some fresh air and exercise and engage with the real world. There are physical risks, too, in technology addiction – the American Academy of Pediatrics recently cited a journal article about a boy in San diego with a persistent, painful rash which turned out to be a nickel allergy caused by constant contact with his i-pad.
Trends
The latest Global Trends Survey from pollsters Ipsos MORI shows that attitudes to personal digital devices are very favourable across the world, and especially in the powerhouse rapidly-growing economies of the BRICTS nations (Brazil Russia India China Turkey and South Africa). Ipsos MORI technology analyst Tom Cross told FI “We’re seeing the emergence of a larger middle class. Young people have more opportunities than their parents did. Compare that with the UK where we’ve been in recession recently and we might be looking at a correlation here between economic confidence and optimism around how technology can improve people’s lives.”
But Cross admits the findings of the Global Trends Survey also give cause for concern, indicating that ‘digital snacking’ is reducing the ability of technology users to concentrate for long periods of time and that issues of privacy and trust in the authorities to manage our online world have eroded significantly since last year.
Infrastructure
For writer Rod Newing, the devices themselves are less important than the infrastructure behind them. Newing recently lost his wife who died after a long period of disability caused by a series of strokes. The Newings were able to use technology to give her some independence even though she was housebound and in a wheelchair. But this raised the issue of who would respond in an emergency and Rod Newing fears that fully-automated telehealth might leave elderly, disabled and vulnerable people relying on machine-to-machine communications with little or no human intervention.
This vision of the future is frightening nurses in the United States of America. Healthcare technology and institutions there are often owned by the big health insurance companies which may have a vested interest in replacing human resources with remote monitoring devices, since the machine-to-machine communication can continue round the clock and costs far less than employing health workers. Statistics produced by the National Nurses Union show that profit margins increase in medical centres that introduce tele-healthcare. They claim that patient care will suffer as a result, and they are campaigning for national legislation to fix the ratio of nurses to patients at a ‘safe’ level. This is one of the findings from the NNU research in children’s hospitals in 2013 “ Adding just one child to a hospital’s average staffing ratio increased the likelihood of a medical pediatric patient’s readmission within 30 days by 11%, while the odds of readmission for surgical pediatric patients rose by nearly 50%.” Politically the REgistered Nurses have won support in the states of Florida, district of Columbia, Illinois and California where state-level ratios are now in force, and they are calling for federal limits that will apply nationwide.
NNU activists are also calling for public support by crowdsourcing patients’ experiences and raising awareness of medical technology through advertising campaigns on coast-to-coast radio stations and YouTube.
Future Intelligence Editor Peter Warren comments: “The rapidly changing world of wearable and embedded technology and the internet of Things demand a fresh look at ethics and regulation. Lawmakers are simply not keeping up with the pace of change. they need to consider concepts such as human primacy and devices sanctity which we explore and advocate in our latest report.”
Peter Warren has co-authored a report ‘Can we make the digital world ethical?” with Michael Streeter and Jane Whyatt. It has been presented to the EU’s digital adviser Nicole Dewandre in Brussels and to the French Senate in Paris, where a committee of inquiry is taking expert evidence to inform its new bill of rights for digital citizens. The 75-page report is available to buy. Order at futureintelligence@outlook.com.
