Oh, Is That The Internet You're Wearing?

I can see it now...

[Enter Dream Sequence] 'ALOHA! We're here at the Red Carpet Event at the 2021 Web Movie Awards! All the stars are here wearing the latest in fashion trends. Oh, here comes DigiTom wearing his underarm sweat blocker shirt that also calculates how much moisture he is losing and how many ounces of water he needs to replace that sweat. Cool stuff. Ah, and here comes Hank Hologram and what is amazing is how his shoes continue to change colors depending on his mood. Ooop...With all those screams, it must be super director Steve Streamer who has 500 little HHDD cameras sown into his clothes and he is making a live action movie of this event!' Can't wait to see who plays me!'

Wearables are one of the hottest trends pushing the Internet of Things. Many of us are familiar with the sensor bracelet things that keeps track of steps, distance, calories burned and all the things a pedometer used to do. But now there are sensors stitched in to our actual clothing! Nike recently patented a shirt that provides 'enhanced body position feedback.' Basically you are wearing your coach as an outfit. It is a wearable instruction shirt that helps improve an athlete’s form or body positioning.

A Korean artist has released a kinetic wearable, Metamorphosis, which features a woman’s dress and man’s blazer that detect when you’re drunk. When consuming alcohol, the shoulders on the dress expand and transition between different colors, while the collar on the blazer rise to hide the wearer’s face. The dress is designed to show how a female’s confidence increases when consuming alcohol but the blazer hides the male when it senses too much alcohol on his breath. I'm not incoxitated ossifer!

A Brazilian designer has won an award for her lingerie that illuminates when touched. While not yet in production, there are micro sensors built into the bras and underwear and brings the red light district into your own home.

And of you think these are one-offs, this October in Portland there will be FashioNXT’s first annual Wearable Technology Fashion Competition. They are looking at ways to bring wearables into mainstream adoption with the focus on ensuring the technology blends into the essence of the clothing.

To top it all off, there is an interesting article about the 5 psychological challenges facing wearables. It is about behavior change technology and if these apps can actually change what a person does. The 5 challenges include:

Apathy - if you're not motivated to change, it doesn't matter.
Simplicity vs. Complexity - You can’t just shove complex psychology into an app and expect an incredible user experience.
Personalization vs. Scale - Psychology is generally applied in a clinical setting, with the best results from 1:1 interactions & does not scale.
Relapse - The process of anticipating/preventing relapse is integral to lasting behavior change. This important step is almost always overlooked in technologies
Integration with Real Life - There exists a natural barrier between doing something on your phone and taking action in real life.

With 82% of American wearable tech users believing that it has enhanced their lives, I'm sure this is just the beginning of the Wearable Internet.