Article 1:Does Wearable Tech Have Legs? 
NPR Interview ; Scott Simon & Rachel Arthur
Article 2: How Swipe Culture is Tinderizing our Lives
by Musa Okwanga
   

     The next fad being trumpeted down the mass marketing machine is wearable technology that connects with smartphones to help improve your daily life, that's the claim anyway. But do we really need these devices at our command at absolutely any moment during the day? A substantial 'unplug' movement is also shouting for our culture’s need to unplug from our connections for a little while and slow down our lives and reconnect with issues that are important like those in our surroundings. The right choice of course usually lies somewhere in the middle of any debate, wearable technology might be the newest trend in showing off just how many things you can buy as a consumer in our society which has somehow been linked to an individuals self worth but it will hopefully someday soon provide real benefits for the users of that technology. 

     Wearable technology could provide many useful advantages for those with health concerns and who have trouble monitoring their time allotment to certain tasks such as insulin injections for diabetics. A wearable watch that helps you track your calorie intake/output could be useful for those who are training for an event or looking to loose some weight. Checking the weather on your watch would be a pretty handy feature as well since it's definitely becomes clunky to take out your phone overtime you need the simplest token of information.

     Implications for the music industry could be compelling however, if you have the ability to skip a track or make music selections right on your wrist then it's hard to imagine this would decrease any persons consumption of music with the devices they already own. Something to consider however would be the downfall of never being able to escape your digital connection, something that experts argue only increase your isolation within society.

     If we assume Apple will be the company that will probably do wearable tech better than any other company out there then I think we are in for a pleasant surprise once the iWatch comes out and improves upon wearable tech that is currently on the market in many ways. From a personal point of view an iWatch would probably be better than my iPhone because I would spend less time looking at my iPhone if I already had it on my arm. If wearable tech is ultimately decreases the amount of time I spend on my phone and streamlines the process of using my phone then I am alright with that. As a relatively active person features like calorie trackers and activity monitoring apps would be a big advantage and provide insights about daily routines that would otherwise be hard to track and if this information automatically updated with all my other devices this would be awesome, for example going on a bike ride and having my ride on my iMac Maps when I return so I can sort through results of the trip.

     Along with wearable technology is the overconsumption already at our fingertips provided by smartphones which are responsible for some feelings of “taking a trip from A to infinity” as described in the article How Swipe Culture is Tinderizing our Lives. The full out assumption that the more technology is better might be a preeminent contract that will ruin our social well being. Learning to reconnect with those around us and not be distracted by media machines out to make a fortune of advertising to the masses will take some getting used to if the millennial generation is to ever accomplish anything as great as those who have come before.  

    

Links to Article:

http://www.npr.org/2014/09/06/346299238/does-wearable-tech-have-legs

https://medium.com/matter/how-swipe-culture-is-tinderizing-our-lives-50bd8b16131e