The Impact of Pervasive Technology on American Consumers

THE IMPACT OF PERVASIVE TECHNOLOGY ON AMERICAN CONSUMERS
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Does pervasive technology follow a positive or negative trend?
Though pervasive computing has numerous application and advantages, it is following a negative trend. The big tech companies are continuously investing in ways to make their products irresistible to consumers and hook them. The more consumers are hooked to their products the more they make money. Thus, most devices are built with very enticing features that make them hardly possible to keep them away. Consumers are addicted to these devices, and therefore they continue to spend more time on their devices. Psychologists and sociologists have pointed out that technology is threatening the social structures of the society by digitizing interactions between individuals and or groups because of the overdependence on technology. Pervasive technology, which has been on the rise is affecting how Millennials and younger generations form social bonds and approach interpersonal interactions.
One of the ways where tech companies have made big headway into an increasing utility of pervasive technology is in advancing the capabilities of wearable technology. Wearable technology, especially watches have enabled tech companies to bring computing at a more personal level CITATION Lie15 \l 1033 (Liew, Wah, Shuja, & Daghighi, 2015). Many tech companies have departments working on developing products in this area, and though some of them have been a flop in market adoption, the companies are refining their approaches and lately they have been making ‘useful’ products. Some wearable technology devices enable users to keep track of their social media accounts on the go. For example, Google Glasses and Snapchat glasses enable the user to access their social media sites with the least effort, and they are virtually using their social media accounts all the time. Thus, a wearable technology, which is on the rise is aiding in personalizing pervasive technology, and more big tech companies are trying to figure out how to make their products indispensable to the user at all times.
Americans, especially Millennials and younger generations spend too much time on their devices, and it has become addictive. The time they spend especially on social media has adverse effects on their mental health. Other than being addictive, some suffer cyberbullying, and they also get exposed to more mentally effective content from their devices. Physically, the light emitted by the devices has been connected to insomnia and sleeping disorders CITATION Hal15 \l 1033 (Hale & Guan, 2015). Most Americans spend too much time with their devices till late into the night, and they affect their sleeping patterns.
The micro implant technology has been an area of interest to many technology enthusiasts, and many startups have been started specifically focusing on developing solutions to wearable technology. As early as 2005 some technology enthusiast such as Amal Graafstra had surgeons implant microchips into his hands. Graafstra uses the implants to access his home, open car doors, and to log on to his computer CITATION The14 \l 1033 (TheJournal.ie, 2014). Some enthusiasts have also manufactured guns that only fire when held by their owners and they ‘detect’ their owners using the microchips. This technology, though it is in its infant stages and has been marred by a lot of teething problems, it is on the rise, and more companies are investing in developing microchips for various uses. It is likely that in the future microchip technology will become mainstream if the investment into the field is successful. Microchip implant technology is ‘invasive,’ and though it has sparked heated debates, it is still widely adopt...