4 Predictions For The Future Of Wearable Technology

Wearable technology has had a mixed start to life.

While many readers will likely have one of the hugely popular smartwatches or fitness trackers available on the market today, other forms of wearable tech such as smart glasses have experienced difficulties finding the right audience.

This last decade has been a fascinating teething period for the pioneers of wearable tech. One where devices have had to balance not being too intrusive into people’s everyday lives (case in point, Google Glass) with actually providing the benefits that make it worth strapping to your body every time you head off to work.

Wearable tech is something a lot of major developers and entrepreneurs are banking on hitting it big in the next few years. But what exactly does success, or failure for that matter, look like? Are we destined for more high-profile flops or will wearable tech lead to the much-fabled rise of humans 2.0? Let’s explore.

Continued focus on healthcare

Healthcare has been at the center of the wearable tech revolution.

Fitbits and its market rivals have been some of the only major wearable tech success stories, selling millions of units internationally for years.

Much of this is down to the simplicity and accessibility of the device, but it also speaks to something about the typical wearable tech consumer. They are much more likely to invest in a product if they can see the health and lifestyle benefits.

Now while things may continue in this manner for a while, it’s not unlikely that wearable tech will evolve within the healthcare sector, rather than beyond it.

Fitness has evolved into a $100 billion industry, and wearable tech is a huge reason why. It’s easy then to see companies experiencing success seeing their futures (and dollar signs) in both personal and medical healthcare. Wearable tech is about to start taking things much more seriously.

Advances in bio-3D printing of human tissue could be the spark that begins a new tech revolution in healthcare. While not strictly wearable, we could see human organs being produced synthetically. With this in mind, wearable tech companies could start to approach more serious health conditions — a step up from wearable blood pressure monitors and ECG monitors, which entered the market a few years ago.

Of course with mental health being such a major topic we should anticipate involvement from wearable tech. Companies such as Hapbee are experimenting with how wearable technology can be used to influence human emotions, with the augmented device giving people direct control over their feelings. With Hapbee wearables receiving rave reviews from users, it’s not unlikely that we could see similar devices being rolled out with the purpose of putting emotional care in the hands of the patient themselves.

Personal healthcare will always be a massively profitable sector, and if these predictions are true then wearable tech may be about to double down and stick its fingers further into the healthcare pie.

Taking ‘wearable’ to the next level

Traditionally, wearable tech devices have found success due to their non-invasive designs.

Smartwatches don’t interfere with your everyday life. They may provide you with a notification every now and then, but for the most part, you decide when to use them, rather than the watch demanding attention.

However, the direction of wearable technology may be about to change. Not so much for the mass market, but for B2B consumers.

Exoskeletons sound like a very futuristic proposition, even when you’re talking about something as advanced as wearable tech. However, they already exist — largely being used to help workers perform better in their manual roles and avoid injuries. The Hyundai Vest Exoskeleton is a prime example of this in a genuine workplace right now. If these ‘devices’ (if you can call them that) continue to provide companies and warehouse workers with improved levels of efficiency and safety, then it’s not unexpected that competitors will emerge and more businesses will invest in them.

But what about wearable tech on an even more personal level than suits that engulf your entire body?

Prosthetic advancements have come along significantly in the last few decades, with new ways of replacing damaged limbs on human bodies emerging every year to provide a better quality of life to people across a spectrum of issues.

For many developers, the next natural step for prosthetics is to make them ‘smart’. Extensive research is being carried out on intuitive prosthetics, which would connect with the patient via the nervous systems. If this is successful then this type of prosthetic could become the norm across the medical world.

Say “hi” to AI

Whether we like it or not, the increased presence of AI is something we’ve all had to become accustomed to in the last few years.

At home or in the office, we spend so much time communicating with devices, often without even realizing it. AI provides us with information, recommends new media to enjoy and even keeps our fridges stocked. It’s everywhere, and not going away any time soon.

This, of course, is absolutely the case when it comes to wearable tech.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink company has made significant progress in recent weeks, with its brain-computer interface designed to help people with severe brain injuries gaining traction among people outside of the tech sphere for the first time.

Musk has often spoken of the power of merging humans with AI, and a natural step towards this goal sees a trajectory through familiar wearable tech devices. Devices such as AlterEgo have been developed with similar aims — this time with the focus of helping people with speech disorders.

Even social media companies, such as Facebook, are looking at interface systems that can let you use their platform without even having a device, but rather, just through the power of your thoughts.

Getting to this point will require significant trial and error, and wearable tech seems a perfect place to conduct such tests. Whether or not it will succeed on a mass-market level any time soon is up for debate though.

A question of privacy

Privacy in wearable tech is a complicated issue.

Many would suggest that by embracing these devices for the means of organizing your life and improving your health you are naturally forgoing any right to complain about a loss of privacy.

However, as major data breaches have taught us people have a complicated relationship with what they are willing to give up to tech companies, from the social media platforms they use to companies looking to develop new apps to tackle major societal issues.

As an observer of wearable tech, it’s hard to see a future where it is less invasive. These devices require a huge amount of data to function properly. As they become more popular amongst typical consumers should we expect to see push back? Especially if it is the same companies we are so cautious of passing data at to the helm of these developments.

While it would be foolish to predict improved data security or scrutiny on these companies due to the evidence we have before us, it’s not impossible to imagine a breaking point where the public turns away from wearable tech should it start to learn too much about them or ask for too much. There will always be a limit to people’s privacy.

Wearable technology is at a bit of a crossroads. With so many companies investing in it in different ways, you can see multiple paths emerging for the industry — from continuing down the same consumer markets to trying to fundamentally change the way humans live and interact with one another and machines. What the future holds is hard to know for certain, but we are becoming closer and closer with our devices every day.