Society, Technology and Self Toggle navigation

Soc 2401 05/16/16
Professor: Dr. Diana Mincyte Fernando Tejeda

Technology and its personal Integration

As of 2015 the Apple Watch has introduce personal technology to the masses, with many consumers exploring and applying the technology provided by this wearable device to their everyday life. One can’t negate the impact that this new development it’s bringing to the world and how it would continue to develop in the future. But every time new technology develops and its introduce to society there is an unavoidable period in time, where adaptation most takes places among the consumers. Within this period the early adapters of the technology would start a process of giving feedback about the negatives or positive connotations and impact the technology would have among the social fabric.
The development of the Apple watch comes from a background of humans trying to connect with technology in a more personal and interactive way; there is where wearable technology is born. The Apple watch represent one of many options in today’s market of wearable technology, but by having a watch in our wrist (a familiar object to wear) that is capable to connect with outside sources and give personal (physical health) feed back all at the same time by simply wearing it is an innovation on its self. The story of the Apple watch in particularly is one of many ideas and a small time frame to enter a settle market.

The story begins with the wishing of a company that has almost cult followers to develop its new device (product) that would have to be added it to its permanent product developments with a new set of software and user navigations. But all the way from the start of this development the Apple watch had to face some difficulties “…There were no working prototypes; there was no software. There were just experiments—the iPod crew had made something with a click wheel—and lots of ideas. The expectations, however, were clear: Apple’s senior vice president of design, Jony Ive, had tasked them with creating a revolutionary device that could be worn on the wrist…”(Pierce, D. IPhone Killer: The Secret History of the Apple Watch). After all the challenges and already established competitors market the Apple watch was release to the masses in the spring of 2015, with a mix review and struggling launched profits.
The Apple watch represents to many a more advance “smart watche” but most importantly to the company it represents “…emotion and identity. When you buy an Apple Watch, you’re not just buying this watch — you’re also buying the interface into this matrix Apple has created — a world that consists of other Apple products, such as the iPhone, iPod, MacBook and iPad…”(Lewis, T.1 Million Orders and Counting: Why So Many Covet the Apple Watch). This is one of the most important facets of the development of the product, the appeal to its loyal adapters that would determine the faith of further developing the product and software’s in the future.
The development of this type of technology has resulted in many changes in the way we interact with technology; such as the way we are more tentative to overload our brains with constant information due to the proximity of a wearable technology like the Apple Watch to our body. Yet with the features to have information directly accessible in our wrist one has the option to start reshaping when we can have human interactions. For instant the watch offers its user a text messages features call VIP that directs all of the most important messages to the watch. That can cause users to ignore most calls unless you hand select a group of contacts that would have a the most priority in your list. (Shear, M. D. With Taps on the Wrist, Apple Watch Points to the Future.)
The device it self brings to users a more adaptable technology (almost hands free) it does features more than just telling the time. Yet many users have found that when interacting with a technology so close to the human body it can get overwhelming at times when the outside information is in a high constant rate, “but I found that if it was used for every app and message, it became an irritating blizzard of notifications that I quickly started to ignore altogether.” (Warman, M. Apple Watch review: Object of desire). The fact that the constant message can add the adopters of this type of technology with stress, is a sing of one of the weak points that the Apple watch has.
Although from the current social standards adding another device and one in particular so close to our body can be distracting. The Apple watch brings an element that might be where the future is heading and can be more positively to the users. That is wearable technology that can provide us with information about our current health status with live feed directly collected from the watch.
The feature although not new to the Apple watch, has been in the works for a while that it started with former chief executive officer of Apple Inc, Steve Jobs“…If you look at Apple’s current health initiatives, many are focused on helping people record data of all types and get it securely to their healthcare providers. Apple also has projects related to healthcare records, management and interaction between the doctor and patient with a goal of making the patient-doctor relationship more fruitful and less frustrating. …”( Bajarin, T. The Real Reason Apple Made the Apple Watch.). The Apple watch was design to bring users with health data directly collected from the watch and created a better and streamline way for doctors and patients to communicated about health issues. This advances opens a door to the scenario where patients would no longer have to travel to see any medical consultation but instead would have a check up from data collected by the watch and send directly to their doctors to be analyzed.
The technology provided by the development of the health features of the Apple watch is demonstrating that it’s the health data collected is demonstrating to be useful for determining any illnesses that may occur in the wearer. In a recent case a high school football player said that the Apple Watch save his life after using the wearable to test his heart rate. He self diagnose by noticing an intense chest and back pains, noticing the abnormality of the data, the student took the information collected from the Apple watch and presented it to his trainer and school medical facilitator, which caused concerned and was later rush to the hospital, where they found that he had a dangerous medical condition.(Chang, L.A Massachusetts teen says that the Apple Watch saved his life).
The fact that by simply wearing the device and noticing the data collected the student was able to determine early on he had a deadly illness is a demonstration of the capabilities of the technology implemented on the Apple watch. This only demonstrated that although wearable technology is a relative new technological innovation it could be useful. With further developments in the integration of the technology to the human body, one can predict that medical illnesses would be determine by data collected by the device and that it would most benefit a person with medical conditions where the need of a constant monitoring is mandatory.

Bibliography
1. Shear, M. D. (2015, December 30). With Taps on the Wrist, Apple Watch Points to the Future. Retrieved Spring, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/technology/personaltech/is-it-time-for-an-apple-watch.html
-The Article covers wearable technology (specifically the apple watch) from a consumer who is elderly and the often find himself to be a late adopter of new technological advances.
2. Lewis, T. (2015, April 15). 1 Million Orders and Counting: Why So Many Covet the Apple Watch. Retrieved Spring, 2016, from http://www.livescience.com/50485-apple-watch-mania.html
-The article gives the perspective of early adopter of Apple watch and fallows the technology desirability since it was release to the mass market.
3. Chang, L. (2015, September 22). A Massachusetts teen says that the Apple Watch saved his life Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/wearables/the-apple-watch-just-saved-a-teenagers-life/#ixzz42Qu0a58Q Retrieved Spring, 2016.
– The article covers an incident that was a matter of life and death where the apple watch user was subsequently save by the technology implemented in the Apple watch.
4. Pierce, D. (2015, May). IPhone Killer: The Secret History of the Apple Watch. Retrieved Spring, 2016, from http://www.wired.com/2015/04/the-apple-watch/
-In this article the reader is given an inside view to the development of the Apple watch and the design team behind the now acclaimed wearable technology. In addition it focus of the ideas and goals behind the technology.
5. Warman, M. (2015, May). Apple Watch review: Object of desire. Retrieved Spring, 2016, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2015/12/11/apple-watch-review-object-of-desire/
-The article is about the technology use in the watch, reviewing in details the features and functionality that the watch would provide to its users and the benefits it brings.
6. Heath, A. (2015, November). Apple Watch review: Object of Why people are giving up on the Apple Watch. Retrieved Spring, 2016, from http://www.techinsider.io/why-people-are-giving-up-on-the-apple-watch-2015-11
-In this piece the author explains some of the key implications that the technology use in the wearable device. It discusses why some people are opting out of the technology.
7. Wakabayashi, D. (2015, February). What Exactly Is an Apple Watch For? Retrieved Spring, 2016, from http://www.wsj.com/articles/challenge-of-apple-watch-defining-its-purpose-1424133615
– The article approaches the Apple watch from the many users that potentially would wear it every day. It also speaks about the functions and target consumers that would apply the technology.
8. Manjoo, F. (2015, July 22). In Apple Watch Debut, Signs of a Familiar Path to Success. Retrieved Spring, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/technology/personaltech/in-apple-watch-debut-signs-of-a-familiar-path-to-success.html
-The article brings out some of the similar business tactics employed in the launch of other technological gadgets and industry.
9. Bajarin, T. (2016, May 9). The Real Reason Apple Made the Apple Watch. Retrieved from http://time.com/4323318/apple-watch-steve-jobs-health/
-The article gives an inside depth oh how the apple watch is changing how medical date is collected directly from patients after a year from its launch to the mass market.
10. Desarnauts, B. (2015, November 30). First insights into unsatisfied Apple Watch owners. Retrieved from https://medium.com/wristly-thoughts/dissatisfaction-learnings-48c26d564bc1#.irq0d4d9h
-In this piece the author discuses why many people are opting out of the the Apple watch.