Dive Brief:
- A new report by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project predicts that by 2025, embedded and wearable devices will be fully immersed in consumers' daily routines.
- For the report, Pew surveyed about 1,600 individuals about the future of wearable devices and the "Internet of Things," defined as a "global, immersive, invisible, ambient networked computing environment built through the continued proliferation of smart sensors, cameras, software, databases and massive data centers in a world-spanning information fabric."
- According to Computerworld, the report found that 83% of those surveyed agreed that the "Internet of Things" will have "widespread in beneficial effects" by 2025.
Dive Insight:
There's already a rapid growth underway of wearable devices that track personal health, as well as mobile apps that monitor both chronic medical conditions and personal data (such as exercise and diet). The question is whether these devices will come together into massive data fabric, as Pew predicts. Experts surveyed by Pew disagreed as to whether this was the case. For example, one respondent argued that people don't really want wearable devices. It could be several more years before it's possible to predict more accurately whether these devices are destined to share data in a way that actually improves their health.