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Watch don't Fit

While Silicon Valley implodes with their gadget mania its believers will consume all that we produce.  So it is with some friends and neighbors who as smart as they are do fall prey to the lure of the tech.


One of them, a mom, has decided that she will wear a Fitbit on one wrist and an Apple Smartwatch on  the other. 


When asked why - she said the Fitbit tracks her movements better.  'Fitbit' to the uninformed is a physical motion sensor based wrist band/strap that will convert your steps into a digital readout.


Now most smart phones already have this feature built into them (at no added cost) but that is not relevant since she believes that this gadget is the best representation of her limbic activity.


Also the Apple contraption literally and figuratively is competing for the same activity based messaging with its own branded interface.


So for someone like me who is happy to simply get a chance to walk and is least interested in tech for the sake of tech this is quite a curious perspective.


I don't like other devices telling me what I already know, and so I was surprised that she even went to sleep wearing these.


When asked why - the response was it tells her how many times she woke to tend to the baby in the middle of the night.  It also gives her documented leverage over the spouse who then can be coerced to do the dishes.


This is what the valley can do to you - sell you gadgets that you are beholden to and that your life's quality will be dictated by their existence and alerts.  Whether you can be alert (or get a full night's sleep) with all these pings, dings, and texts is debatable what with distracted driving, walking and sleeping becoming an epidemic - enough that someone could come along and make money espousing the virtues of 'how to regulate your life without gadgets'.


Add to this the computerization of all things non human - buzz word - Internet of Things - IOT - and you have cars that are getting hacked - imagine John Lennon playing - I am a dreamer - in your Tesla down the CA 101 freeway and you going from 70 to 0 without music; because a native in the parallel lane just hacked you with his Apple iphone and all your dreams come to a screeching halt.
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