IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - October 2015 - 121

wrist-worn communicator prevail [3]. But unlike the original
series of Star Trek, where these communicators could strand
characters in challenging situations when they malfunctioned,
were lost or stolen, or went out of range, the Apple Watch is
being sold as the "all-in-one" solution that you'll never lose
because it is always on you.
This begs the vital question: How will we change our
behaviors based on the fact that we are walking around with a
full-fledged computer that sits in contact with our bodies and
communicates wirelessly with machines around us without
our knowledge? Apparently, we're all going to look more athletic and stylish, be smarter and more accessible, and have a
lot more convenience at our fingertips. But in actuality, we'll
be reaching for the mute button, longing to be disconnected,
and fed up with all the notifications interrupting us. That's
when the novelty effect wears off [4].
We have all witnessed people who cannot resist the urge of
pulling out their mobile phone to interact with it at the most
inopportune times, or people who pass their idle time simply
looking down at a screen [5]. Most do not realize they are
interacting with their personal computer devices for hours each
day-the repetitive behavior has almost become a type of tic
disorder, which is neurobehavioral. We get a message, it makes
us feel important, we reply, and get a buzz the very next time it
happens again. It's kind of like digital ping pong, and the game
can get tangible fast. The primary reason this repetitive behavior continues to remain hidden is because the majority of
mobile adopters suffer from this and so it looks normal [6].
People in public spaces can be observed immersed in
virtual places [7]. These Wi-Fi-enabled mobile contraptions
can trigger a host of Internet-related addictions [8], whether
used for gaming, answering e-mail, Web surfing, online
transactions, social media, video chatting, or taking photographs. According to experts, Internet addiction disorder
ruins lives by causing neurological complications, psychological disturbances, and social problems, not to mention
the potential for accidents when people are not looking
where they are going or not paying attention to what they
should be doing. In short, our need to always be on and connected has become a kind of cyber narcotic drug.
Very few are immune to this yearning for "feedback
loops," so telecommunications operators and service providers pounce on this response. Information is money, and while
we are busy interacting with our device, the companies are
busy pocketing big money using our big data.
We are fast becoming a piece of digital information ourselves, sold to the highest bidder. And while we are busy rating ourselves and one another, the technology companies are
not only using our ratings to learn more about our preferences and sentiments, but rating us as humans [9]. In sociological terms, it is called social sorting, and in policing terms, it
is called proactive profiling.
In days gone by, mobile communications could tell data
collectors about our identity, location, even condition. This is
not new, but the real-time access to the precision of this level
of granularity of data gathered as technology becomes more

We are fast becoming a piece of
digital information ourselves, sold
to the highest bidder.
and more invasive is something we should be aware of as it
potentially can impinge on our fundamental human rights.
Because watches interface with the human body, they
have the capacity to tell a third party much more about you
than just where you've been and where you are likely to be
going. They can
▼ detect physiological characteristics like your pulse rate,
heart rate, and temperature, which provides insight into
your home/work/life habits [10]
▼ determine time, distance, speed, and altitude information
derived from onboard sensors
▼ identify which apps you are using and how and why you
are using them, minute by minute
▼ oversee the kinds of questions you are asking via search
engines and text-based messages you are sending via
social media.
These watches will become integral to the fulfillment of the
Internet of Things phenomenon-aiding the ability to be connected to everyone and everything.
All in all, corporations can know what you are thinking,
the problems you are facing, and your personal context [11].
What is disturbing is that they can divulge our innermost personal thoughts, intentions, and actions and have some evidence to figure out our reasons for doing things.
Most people who are immersed in the virtual world
through high-tech gadgetry are too busy to think about the act
of inputting information onto the Internet. People tout a life
of convenience over privacy and are therefore not concerned
what information is being logged by a company and shared
with hundreds of other potential partners and affiliates [12].
Generally, consumers are oblivious to the fact that even if
they are doing nothing at all, the smart device they are carrying or wearing is creating a type of digital DNA about
their uniqueness.
Today we are asking to be surveilled and are partying in
the panopticon. We have fallen in love with the idea of
being told about ourselves and don't discern that we have
become prison inmates who are being tracked with electronic bracelets.
By the time we wake up to this technological trajectory, it
will be all too late. Our health insurance provider will be Samsung [13], our telecoms provider will be Google [14], and our
unique lifetime identifier will come from Apple [15]. Of course
these are currently the archetypal tech providers, but tomorrow
who knows?
And by that time, we will likely be heralding in the age of
uberveillance, where we posit that cellphones and wristwatches are not enough, that the human-computer interface should
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - October 2015