Google Glass, beyond the hype

I’m no expert on the topic, but I’m somewhat familiar on the negative effects today’s technology has on us. Aside from the typical eyestrain, carpal tunnel syndrome and posture hazards we all know too well, the recent mobile revolution introduced Touch screens to the masses, and along with it came new health hazards such as Repeated motion injuries which I’m beginning to show sign of.

What are the hazards?

There’s been some coverage of touch screens hazards over the past few years (tip: Google is your friend) but in my opinion, not enough.

Ergonomics

There are many articles on the topic, tons of useful tips and best practices (check out this great collection by Apple).

People are finally adopting solutions to the age old desktop computing health problems, stand up desks for example, are becoming more widely spread and people are finally realizing the importance of ergonomic input devices.

There’s also been some good advancement in touch-less gesture controls on mobile devices and some very interesting new tech for desktop computing.

But in my opinion that’s just stitching together solutions that address the effects rather than addressing the core problem: Today’s technology is simply not human friendly.

As humans we’ve evolved the use of our bodies to interact with our environment over thousands of years (340,000 years to be exact) it’s ridiculous to think that we can/should adapt ourselves to the use of our technology, rather than the technology to us. yet for some reason, we are creating tools that are hurting us by working against our natural evolution.

Enter Google Glass

I do believe this product will be the first consumer ready computing device that takes away most of the physical limitations presented by keyboards, mice, and touch screens and allow us to operate our bodies freely and without constraint.

The implications to our work & personal life are yet to be fully understood, but much like the mobile revolution had brought us much flexibility in terms of our attachment to the physical aspect of computing (being tied in to a desk for example), I believe (and hope) Google Glass will be one to change our perspective on many of the well established paradigms of work and productivity and most importantly bring a new understanding to Human-Machine interactions.

I’ve yet to read any insightful study, article or any sort of coverage on Google Glass being an ergonomic solution and a god send for people with technology related injuries, instead we seem to be focused on who’s going to build the best consumer app, and how to monetize the platform.

I’d really like to see some innovation on that front beyond making yet another photo sharing app… but that’s just me.