A lot of what motivates a user to adopt a new technology is their desire to eliminate work that they don't want to do. If we were running a company in the future and had access to functional wearable technologies and were thinking how we could change how work is done, I would ask, “Why are my employees still spending time writing reports and [preparing] documents? Why are they not just proposing ideas via GenAI built into a wearable device whenever they are inspired?” They could describe what a piece of writing should look like, and then when they get back to their desks, it would be ready for review.

Whenever we talk about how technology can streamline work, we must focus on the core reason why someone is being asked to do something—write a report in this case. It should be my mind or my ability to talk to customers that’s valued, not the quality of my prose. It's about human interaction. I think we must focus our attention on that if we're eventually going to use wearables to supplant the boring parts of work. 

When we ideate on how to integrate wearables into business or consumer scenarios, there are two concerns that should be clearly addressed: How secure is my data, and how is my data being used? This isn't a new problem, but in the context of wearables, I’m not referring to just a big-data-abuse perspective. I mean whether my manager is using this technology to keep tabs on the wrong aspects of my life or my work-life balance.

That goes for both knowledge workers and frontline workers. Let's say you're a construction worker and you’re wearing a preventive wearable to reduce your susceptibility to back injury. Well, is that thing also detecting how long you're standing still and taking your break? I know the altruistic reasons I'm wearing it, but at what point does that become something more? As we come up with ideas for how wearables will be used in the future, let's not forget there must be mitigation measures in place. We should be setting a clear expectation that our data is not only secure but being used ethically.