Improving Human Health is SuperTrendy @elizontrend-blog - Tumblr Blog

Wrapping Up

It’s been such a great journey making this blog for COM 634. I learned a lot in this class and I loved being able to actually apply it in my daily life. I learned to look at things that people are not really talking about and to try to think of where that thing might go in the future. For example, if I were to look at TikTok, I would see that a year or two ago, TikTok wasn’t very big. But if I look now, TikTok has essentially successfully replaced Vine.

I also learned to engage more with technology. It’s not really something that we can avoid, but it is good to check out as much as possible and see where certain technology may become a trend. I personally am a techno-optimist and I think that technology has a place just about everywhere and that you don’t have to be an expert coder or even in STEM to appreciate, use, and analyze the role technology can play in different industries.

The concept that stood out to me the most was when we talked in class about starting with an anthropological perspective. In my undergrad years, I took a workplace communication technology class where we covered some similar topics about how to spot communication technology that might be especially useful, particularly in the workplace. In COM 634 here, I gained a new way to look at those technologies. I learned that there is a reason for everything that boils down to us being humans and seeing a problem and finding a solution. We are problem solvers and inventors and we use technology to build new ideas or solve existing problems.

Overall, this was a great course to be in and I had an awesome and educational time building my tumblr. See you all in the future.

This FOX article, as the title suggests, looks at wearable technology as the biggest health and fitness trend. Wearable fitness technology is currently extremely popular. From smartwatches to heart rate monitors, wearables have definitely found their place in health and fitness.

Based on the K-wave concept from class, we are now in the “Summer” season of wearable technology, especially in the fitness world. This means that popularity is at an all time high. Even though the cycle is 40-60 years, we may be in that 40 years where fitness and health technology is actually popular.

As I mentioned before on this blog, bigger companies are also taking note of wearable technology’s popularity. Apple’s main appeal of the Apple Watch is that it is a fitness tracker, in addition to being an accessory used to call and text and even listen to music. Google also just bought Fitbit recently. Under Armour, a while ago, bought MyFitnessPal and has also released apps such as Map My Run.

Overall, wearable technology got bigger throughout 2019, and it is only going to expand in 2020. From smart watches to ear buds, wearables are definitely in their fitness niche.

#NewhouseTrend #wearables

Headspace is an attempt to bring secular meditation to the masses. Whether it succeeds in that goal is another question.

I wanted to take this moment to look at a wellness app that I personally use and why I think it deserved to be featured on my Tumblr. This app is called Headspace and it is an app that is centered around meditation and mindfulness.

Work and life can both get very stressful very quickly, and it is nice to get an idea of how to calm down and take a step back. Guided meditation does exactly this. It improves your mental health. Meditation in general could even make you more focused and better prepared to take on the world.

Business Insider reports that Headspace is designed to be an introductory step into meditation. “It expects you have never meditated before and may not understand the ‘point’ of meditation.” In this way, it takes a really important step toward its goal of making secular meditation that much more accessible.

Meditation and mindfulness are taking an even bigger position in mental health, and being able to put that into technology makes it even more useful and accessible. Most mental health apps these days are also working on the same concept, and it is such an easy way to make people that much more in tune with themselves and maybe help people develop healthier habits of their own.

I wanted to feature this app because it does have everything to do with mental health. As recommended to me by a mental health professional, it made an even bigger impact on my life and I want someone else to see this and maybe check it out for themselves.

#meditation #headspace #NewhouseTrend

Corporate Wellness has exploded in recent years. Meet 4 innovators who are helping improve employee wellbeing, both physical and mental.

Corporate wellness has been a concern, but not a priority until more recently. Since the boom in focusing on health, workplaces are increasing efforts to make their employees more health conscious. From implementing corporate health challenges to paying for gym memberships, corporations have put in time and money to make sure their employees stay fit so they can be in their best shape for what is most likely a more sedentary job.

This Forbes listicle draws attention to some bigger players in the newly popular corporate wellness market. For this post, I want to draw more attention to the innovations that stood out most to me and that could have the most impact on the workforce.

To start, BurnAlong stood out to me because it was technology based. I did partially pick it because my tumblr is about the technology associated with health and wellness, but I also picked it because I thought it was a great way to get everyone in the workplace on board with a health challenge. By using an app, it is easy to access and hopefully easier to use. Numbers themselves are also objective, so it seems like a great way to invoke some friendly competition among coworkers as well.

InsideOut25 was also a startup that sounded really interesting to me. It’s no secret that work can be draining, and there needs to be more of a focus on mental health. InsideOut25 provides that. They provide resources for employees such as coaches and video calls to therapists. Startups like these can make the workplace that much healthier as a whole.

#NewhouseTrend

A new study in the United States will use CRISPR gene-editing technology to attempt to treat LCA, a retinal condition that is one cause of inherited blindness. The study, which will take place later in 2019, is currently open for would-be patients to enroll. Here's what you need to know.

Moving slightly away from fitness-related technology, I wanted to use this article to talk more about health technology more in a medical way. This article talks about CRISPR, a new gene editing technology that got its start years ago, but is already making big strides in the technological world.

CRISPR is a gene editing technology that can actually alter how your genes are set up. In this way, scientists are using it in a preventative way. They are trying to prevent diseases that are inherited or in the genome in some way. In this case, Digital Trends talks about how CRISPR is being used to treat a cause of inherited blindness. The study is now open for enrollment and it could be another addition to what CRISPR can do. The article cited CRISPR as a breakthrough to get us malaria-resistant mosquitos and “life changing medical advances.”

Transforming genes could have a huge impact on health as a whole. We are getting closer to making ourselves exactly how we want. I think that depending how far this technology gets, we might be able to cure some kinds of cancer or other diseases like depression. We could make ourselves more fit, maybe more prone to healthier habits, or even do something as minor as changing eye color. I wonder what the possibilities could be if we made either CRISPR itself or a version of CRISPR available to the public. I think that people would use it to make themselves into their version of perfect, whatever that means to them. Even though CRISPR has been around for years, it still has major potential.

#crispr #NewhouseTrend

With the first basic iteration being something akin to a glorified pedometer that simply counted your daily steps, the latest breed of fitness trackers are anything but simple.

Modern technology has found its way into multiple places in our lives, and health is one of the most impacted areas. From the quantified self movement to medical advances, health and technology are now more interwoven than ever. This Tech Times article summarizes where health and technology first began their relationship, and also details where they are now.

The article states that “it all started with fitness.” I don’t know if I agree that it started in fitness. I think that it started more in the medical field, and then people probably wanted a more accessible way to track their health progress and goals, and thus it moved into fitness. I will say that fitness technology has grown so rapidly over the past decade. It is so easy to find a diet tracker, a fitness tracker, or even a sleep tracker almost anywhere you look. Accessibility is also a huge value to me, and since the growth of health and fitness technology happened, its accessibility increased so largely. A lot of wellness apps are so easy to use and offer a wide variety of service for free. They are also available on platforms like the App Store, readily available for download.

The article goes on to say that technology can help us understand ourselves. From DNA testing kits to the quantified self, technology makes it so much easier to have mostly if not completely objective data about ourselves, and be able to have it so accessible. Overall, technology is extremely helpful in helping us to understand patterns in ourselves, and that is the key contribution of wellness technology.

#NewhouseTrend #health #technology

The 'fitspo' movement may be aiming to promote a healthier body image for women, but in truth it's just another narrow set of ideals about what women should look like.

I know this article is not quite a tech article and it will be a stretch to include this in my blog but I still think it is important to address some of the underlying motivation that people have to use health and fitness technology. I also think that this has everything to do with social media and how it is used by women who are also using health and wellness technology.

Most motivation to use fitness-related technology centers around weight loss. This movement was mostly corrupted by pro-eating-disorder movements and trends, but now that body positivity has found a voice, the focus has now mostly moved to healthier weight loss methods. There are, however, still problems to this. As the article reports, many “fitspo” or “fitspiration” posts include toned and SKINNY models. Becoming a rebranded version of “thinspiration” is the worst way to go about preaching and portraying health to an impressionable and already socially pressured audience.

In my opinion, this almost defeats the purpose of body positivity. In order to be body positive while still endorsing and promoting fitness, you need to represent a wide variety of body types; not necessarily just the ones who look like they could have a spot on The Bachelor. As long as a healthy route to fitness is the main message, it does not matter as much what the body looks like. Technology does not necessarily control what bodies look like, but it can be a useful tool in reaching your preferred fitness goal. If that goal does not look like what is portrayed in the media, then it sends a message that the consumer of this type of media is not enough and that is equally harmful.

Overall, fitspo is a fine movement when gone about in a healthy way, but rebranding thinspo defeats the entire purpose of fitspo.

The team's recently published study also found that the bulk of these apps were focused on meditation, mindfulness and relaxation.

Mental health apps are taking over the world by storm. As a more discreet and accessible alternative to therapy, many individuals are turning to apps to help them with whatever it is they are dealing with. From tracking mood to guided meditation, mental health apps are becoming a force to be reckoned with. Mental health apps have become popular, but there is debate as to whether or not they are actually effective in improving mental health.

When you have something that’s hard to measure, like mental health improvement, you have to find a way to make it into data that everyone can understand. So for there to be a lack of understanding on how to evaluate mental health apps for their effectiveness, it makes it harder to understand whether or not the apps are even doing what they are supposed to do and whether or not there is any benefit from using these apps. The article mentions that almost none of the mental health apps that they looked at in their study actually have research to back up the effects. If these apps are in fact an alternative to professional mental health resources, there needs to be a way to measure effectiveness.

‘Do I trust the person who made the app, and do I understand where this data is going?’

In a world driven by data, people are constantly trying to find new ways to use that data. Mental health apps have also been on the rise, especially when therapy and other mental health related services are so expensive and inaccessible for one reason or another. Mental health apps are also using data. No surprise there, as all apps use personal data. But the difference with mental health apps is that the data they collect may be more sensitive and personal, as opposed to usage data or other tracking. The biggest question here is: how much do we benefit from mental health apps using sensitive data?

Sending personal data without the knowledge of the user also raises questions about consent. Even if you agree to the terms and conditions of the app, does that alone make it okay for apps to send your likely-sensitive and personal data to places that you don’t necessarily know about?

The Verge reports on a smoking cessation app, which sounds like a great tool to help the user quit smoking. They talk about how that data is sold and it is not mentioned in the privacy policy. The recommended solutions that The Verge reports are to see if there even is a privacy policy, check to see when it was last updated, and to ask yourself whether or not you trust the app’s creator and whether or not you understand where the data is going. Data is incredibly useful, but people need to be more cautious in providing that data to companies and apps, especially ones that collect sensitive data.

#NewhouseTrend #mental health #apps

Google has made an offer to acquire Fitbit, Reuters reported, which would potentially give the firm a presence in the smartwatch market.

In more recent news, as of writing this blog post, Alphabet has already made an offer to buy Fitbit. This article is from a bit earlier in the process. Business Insider reports the advantages of acquiring the successful fitness-centered brand. These advantages include allowing Google to more firmly step into the smartwatch arena and help Fitbit catch up with Apple and Samsung, who are already making smartwatches. Google can also establish their presence in wearables and contribute to that trend.

I think that it is surprising that Google or any other company has not already purchased Fitbit. Fitbit, even though it is surpassed by Apple and Samsung, is still a recognizable name in the fitness industry. I would even argue that they led the wearable trend, and other companies have found ways to improve upon Fitbit’s flaws before Fitbit could do it themselves. Fitbit has more than just smartwatches in their inventory, and it might be a good idea for Google, if they do acquire Fitbit, to advertise those products more since they all pair with the Fitbit watches.

Improving human health has been the main supertrend focus on this Tumblr, and the technology involved with that has grown immensely from its beginnings. Now that people are starting to take fitness tracking more seriously, the market is absolutely perfect for big tech companies to dive into that field and to also pay close attention to this supertrend.

Smartwatches are only the beginning to wearable technology in the fitness world and multiple other companies have delved into wearables themselves. Overall, I think the fitness market is the best and most applicable place to put wearable technology.

#NewhouseTrend

The self-tracking trend is about much more than physical wellbeing.

The quantified self movement has taken on more popularity in recent years. Fitness tracking, sleep tracking, and calorie tracking have all been around but they now have made themselves a much bigger part of people’s lives. From being a simple journal entry to integration into apps and smart technology, self tracking seems to have a place in everyone’s lives. This Quartz article talks briefly about what self tracking is, how people use it, tells one tracker’s story, and illustrates who finds meaning in tracking.

The biggest appeals to self tracking are improving one’s health (much like a certain supertrend discussed in class), having data about yourself (if you’re interested in data), and having the ability to “life-hack” yourself, based on your own data.

Personally, I do track my metrics from time to time. Consistency is the biggest key to this to establish patterns in your data and to keep your reliability. Still, the importance of self tracking is really about what you do with your data. Just having it doesn’t do much; it’s about the interpretation and application into your own life. You may find that incorporating a certain thing or habit into your life may have some kind of effect on it. From there, you can establish a plan for yourself to keep positive effects going and “hack” yourself to a healthier lifestyle.

#NewhouseTrend

Form wants swimmers to view their training in a whole new way. The Vancouver-based startup debuted an augmented reality swim goggle that puts performance metrics right where swimmers need them the most: In front of their eyes. Swimmers can see their pace, distance and more without leaving the pool.

Extended reality is taking the world by storm. A relatively new technology stemming mostly from gaming, we can see that extended reality has other applications to it as well. On a note relevant to this blog, Form has managed to fuse augmented reality and swimming, filling a problem that there seemed to be no previous solution for.

Swimmers will no longer have to guess their stats until they reach a specific side of the pool. They are now able to see their metrics, and even customize which ones they are able to see as they swim. Digital Trends also reports that swimmers can even customize when they see their stats. When they are done swimming, their scores can be shared.

I think that this technology would most benefit more serious swimmers. It also begs the question of whether or not this technology may be allowed in official swim meets. I think that this is a big improvement for fitness technology and allows swimmers to improve their performance possibly at a faster rate.

#swimming #ar #augmented reality #health and fitness #NewhouseTrend

Apple just announced a new device today, the AirPods Pro. The company issued a press release to announce the new device. As the name suggests, the AirPods Pro are wireless earbuds with additional features compared to the AirPods. In particular, the AirPods Pro features active noise cancellation — t…

Wireless headphones have become exponentially more popular in recent years, or even months. They take away the stress of untangling headphones, somehow getting tangled into your headphones, or having them yanked out of your ears by the cord. The gym has been the main place to see wireless headphones, and that is what makes this article about health. While not all athletic gear has pockets or a safe place to put your phone, wireless headphones take all the worrying out of finding a place to set your phone down while you pump iron.

In more recent news, at the time of making this post, Apple has already rolled out their AirPods Pro project, costing significantly more than regular AirPods, but including more features such as being sweat-proof and including noise-cancelling technology. They look almost the same as regular AirPods, and they are about ninety dollars more expensive, but they might be worth it if you are someone who works out and sweats a lot, or someone who travels frequently in a loud space like the subway or a plane, or if you just want to focus on whatever podcast you are listening to on your commute with no distractions. They also come with a charging case that “features a Lightning port and wireless charger,” according to Wired.

#airpods pro #airpods #NewhouseTrend

Researchers take inspiration from cotton candy to make a gelatin scaffolding, which could help realize the dream of more sustainable steaks and chicken breasts.

This Wired article talks about how the process of making meat in the lab works. The authors and scientists compare it to a cotton candy machine. To oversimplify, the strands of gelatin are spun together to create fibers that combine to create a “meat analog.” There have not been any taste tests, according to Wired, but the texture does appear to resemble real meat. As Wired also says, cooking the meat could transform it even further, so we really do not know if this can actually be a sustainable and viable meat alternative.

Assuming that this meat does turn out to be food-safe and sustainable, This could mean new developments in terms of restrictive diets. Veganism, for instance, might be completely changed. One of the main points of veganism is to reduce, and ultimately stop, animal exploitation. By “spinning up” meat in a lab, animals are sharply less exploited, and this meat may become an acceptable meat for vegans.

Not only could this change veganism, but it could also be much more sustainable. The meat and dairy industries are known for being unsustainable. With the ability to create meat in a lab instead of using more organic means, the environment could potentially benefit as well. We might see a reduction in the amount of animals slaughtered, and maybe reduced carbon emissions.

The biggest disadvantage I can think of is how scientists even get the material to make this lab-grown meat in the first place. How much of the animal does that involve? How long does it take to actually make this meat? There are a lot of unanswered questions to this technology. As it develops further, maybe it could be something I can get behind.

#NewhouseTrend #food #meat

Wearables have been spilling into the mainstream consciousness, and are now — some say — geared to take the market by storm. Whether it’s wrist bands such as Jawbone’s UP, Nike+ Fuelband and Fitbit’s Flex, or Google testing and developing smart contact lenses that integrate with mobile devices to measure glucose levels for diabetics, wearable integration is…

To start, this article is from about five years ago. I chose to write about this article because it shows the beginning of a trend. This Wired article talks about whispers of wellness technology, and those whispers have become shouts today.

Some old technology predictions talked about wearable technology. As we can see today, this is everywhere and continues to be on the rise. However, there are still some technologies that have not taken the spotlight yet. Wired mentions electrode-lined clothes that track your exercise. Regardless, more health-oriented products have taken the stage and have become higher in demand.

Voice control is another technology Wired mentioned five years ago that definitely boomed today. Google glass, on the other hand, did not do so well. However, other companies like Bose are trying to make a comeback by developing glasses of their own.

It is so interesting to me every time we talk in class about who is using what technology, that the number of hands gets higher or lower depending on what technologies are coming in or fading out. Trend forecasting is a key part of knowing what is next in the world, but the most interesting part is how people know that something will take off. Sure, people are sometimes wrong and ultimately, forecasting boils down to an educated guess with some tracking. How to know what technologies are going to trend before they actually take off is impressive, and I personally am excited that I get to learn about it.

#voice assistants #wearables #NewhouseTrend

Mental health apps are gaining favor among mental health professionals.

Mental health has not always been at the forefront of attention as it is today. Not long ago, we were blaming laziness for what we now know are mental health issues. Thankfully, access to help has become much more accepted and easy to get. However, therapy is still out of reach for some. This could be due to distance, cost of services, or the fact that there are not enough therapists for clients.

Fortunately, there is a band-aid solution for this. More and more apps are rolling out with an emphasis on mental health. Some, like Better Help, are being marketed as an affordable alternative to therapy. Others, like Headspace, are more of a supplemental tool. Other apps include chatbots, designed to help people talk out their problems.

This Medical Daily article talks about whether or not mental health apps actually work. The article does not give a solid answer about whether or not they worked, but acknowledges that effects were mixed. They focused more on a study with an app called Woebot that showed “measurable improvements on the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale among college students.”

In my own opinion, there is no exact technological alternative to one-on-one therapy. Therapists have to be capable of emotions that, as far as I am aware, cannot be programmed into artificial intelligence. Mental health is not one-size-fits-all and no amount of programming can replicate it. I do think that mental health apps are a great way to make helping yourself a bit easier and more accessible. While they are not an alternative to therapy, they can make mental health a bit easier to access.

#mental health #apps #tech #NewhouseTrend

As self-trackers are pushing the movement forward, entrepreneurs are helping it scale...

It is said in the fitness world that the data does not lie. From this mentality, fitness tracking was born. Fitness tracking is a relatively new trend, but people are going beyond tracking calories and exercise. They are tracking any data they can about themselves. Turns out, there is a name for this: quantified self.

Quantified self is the process of using data about oneself to become healthier. As Technori puts it better, “self-knowledge through self-tracking.” The article also goes beyond fitness tracking and ventures into the world of more qualitative metrics like happiness and productivity. It is hard to track those things, so there needs to be a way to operationalize it, and this is the hole in the market.

The article provides suggestions if you would also like to engage in tracking one of your own metrics. Technori also offers a sort of quick-start guide to tracking whatever it is about yourself that you are interested in. It only starts with a pen and paper but what makes tracking through technology so appealing is that it takes most of the work off of you. All you have to do is enter data. The app has the power to remind you to track your data, it provides you with a place to put it, and a clean way of looking at your data later.

Overall, as we continue to place more emphasis on improving human health and continue to value numbers, the quantified self is an inevitable next step.

#NewhouseTrend

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