Fitbit, Apple watches, Garmin’s and many more smartwatches have become very popular the last five years. These types of watches are also known as activity trackers and smartwatches. Currently, 21% of Americans say they use smart watches or activity trackers (Vogels, 2020). This trend potentially implies that people want to be more aware of their health.
Activity trackers and the mobile application which belong to these activity trackers encourage healthy behaviour (PWC, 2017). An apple watch for example notifies a user every hour to stand up and walk a certain number of steps. It has recently become possible to get an hourly notification to wash your hands and not touch your face in order to fight against COVID-19 (Putock, 2020). The applications and activity trackers help with the management of a healthy lifestyle. It gives the users the feeling that they are in control of their own health.
Additionally, the data which is created by the use of the activity trackers and smart watches can give healthcare professionals a better insight in the day-to-day patterns of individuals. In combination with AI this can help them to provide better feedback and give more advanced guidance to stay healthy (PWC, 2017).
The use of AI and the Inter of Medical Things (IoMT) very hopeful. AI can help people to stay healthy, professionals get insights in the daily patterns of the patients. This seems a very hopeful development in the medical world. But the use of these systems come hand in hand with very big challenge; security of the data. Even though the data will be securely stored nowadays data is nowhere really safe. A data leak may have huge implications. Very sensitive personal data will be out in the open which can be used against you at any moment in time.
The innovations which are being introduced in the healthcare can be very disruptive and improve the quality of life. Will in ten years a smartwatch or activity tracker prevent the population of potential diseases or will the use of smartwatches be decreased since the data is not securely stored?
Bibliography
Vogels, E. A. (2020, 01 09). Pew Research Center. Retrieved from About one-in-five Americans use a smart watch or fitness tracker: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/09/about-one-in-five-americans-use-a-smart-watch-or-fitness-tracker/
Putock, M. (2020, 03 13). How to set up hourly reminders on Iphone and Apple Watch to wash your hands and stop touching your face. Retrieved from https://9to5mac.com/2020/03/13/hourly-reminders-to-wash-hands-on-iphone-apple-watch/
PWC. (2017). No longer science fiction, AI and robotics are transforming healthcare. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/healthcare/publications/ai-robotics-new-health/transforming-healthcare.html
Hi Divia it was interesting to read your thoughts on this subject! I don’t think AI will replace doctors per se, but I do believe it will make the healthcare system much more efficient and effective. However, it will change the way we think about the care process, and the doctors will have to make some major adjustments in their workflow to male optimal use of AI.
I do have some trouble with the data security argument of critics. The thing is, of course we want our data to be secure. We don’t want companies or unwanted people such as hackers to get an insight in our private data. But on the other hand, almost all of us use Google, Facebook, Instagram, the list goes on. All these companies know more about us than even we ourselves do. Facebooks knows exactly what we like. Google knows where we live and can even predict what kind of health issues we may have by tracking our google use. However, most of us are fine with these companies knowing all these details about our lives, and sharing and monetizing our data, but when it’s about health data, the debate gets heated. There were multiple (Dutch) initiatives that could have taken the use of data in healthcare to the next level, but the privacy and security argument was always the obstacle for the implementation. I think it is time to set priorities in terms of using data in healthcare, and realize that health data aren’t much different from our other personal data.
Dear Divia,
I believe that the smart watches have a great potential and could help a lot of people in adapting a healthier lifestyle. However I do not believe it is enough to replace doctors. Reminders on smart watch can also have a very big potential in helping sick people to take their medications or to book a doctor appointment. However, as you mentioned, data security is still a big issue and should be a priority before speculating of what the future of smart watches is.
Hi Divia, very interesting post! It is fascinating how technologies could improve the healthcare industry. I agree that smartwatches could help users to adopt a healthier lifestyle and could even identify irregularities and therefore diseases. However, I believe the chances are very low that this will fully replace doctors in the long run. A person with expertise is needed to assess the actual problem and identify if other types of tests are necessary, such as scans, blood tests etc. which are harder to detect with a smartwatch. Moreover, I like the idea of tracking the health of a person after a disease is identified. The security of data would therefore, as stated, be important. I believe, as the system has already a lot of data about the health of the patient, this extra data would only benefit the patient more with regards to his/her health rather than the data would harm the patient with regards to privacy regulations. Moreover, only relevant data would be given to the doctors.
In conclusion, I agree that smartwatches could enforce a healthier lifestyle and follow-up on the state of health after a certain disease is identified. However, I believe a doctor is needed to actually identify the disease and help with the follow-up procedure.