Wearable technology, or “wearables,” is one of the latest, hot consumer technologies. Wearable technology is any kind of electronic device designed to be worn on the user’s body, and can take many different forms, including jewelry, accessories, medical devices, and clothing. An Apple Watch, which combines fitness tracking, health monitoring, and smartphone capabilities in a wrist-worn device, is one of the earliest examples of a wearable.
The advance in wearable technology has been rapid. And these devices are transmitting their information to data banks that house increasingly personal information, from how many steps you take per day to how many trips you take to the bathroom per night. Yet many public leaders are promoting wearables.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., spoke recently before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health during a hearing on his Department’s 2026 budget request, where he said, “We think that wearables are a key to the MAHA agenda, Making America Healthy Again … my vision is that every American is wearing a wearable within four years.”
These statements mirror those more recently made at a White House event to which Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung, OpenAI, Epic, Oracle, and others sent representatives to meet with Secretary Kennedy and President Trump. At this event, Secretary Kennedy said, “For decades, bureaucrats and entrenched interests buried health data and blocked patients from taking control of their health,” Kennedy was quoted as saying in a statement. That ends today. We’re tearing down digital walls, returning power to patients, and rebuilding a health system that serves the people. This is how we begin to Make America Healthy Again.”
For his part, Mark Zuckerberg has invested $3.5 billion in Ray-Ban and developed a line of smart glasses that can record and live stream video. Meta AI Ray-Bans streams music, podcasts, allow users to ask questions, translate text, make calls, send texts, answer questions, or set reminders simply by saying “Hey Meta.” It is easy to imagine how such technology could quickly become indispensable for entire populations.
The Light Side
It is true that there are benefits to be had from wearables, especially as more seniors “age in place” alone. If the user suffers a heart attack, stroke, or other medical emergency, then the wearable could signal that event to the nearest first responder and help would be promptly on the way with the entire medical history of the wearer available. In having that information, fewer medical mistakes might be made. Lives could be saved.
Or, the wearable could be something as mundane as a continuous glucose monitor, which is a small patch that can monitor blood-sugar levels around-the-clock. As Health Secretary Kennedy recently told congressional lawmakers, this could be a way for Americans to “take control over their own health.”
So, Secretary Kennedy supports wearables, as does President Trump. Even President Trump’s nominee for U.S. Surgeon General, Casey Means, is an obvious wearables supporter since she owns levels.com, a wearable tech company. Maybe they are right, but my instincts and experience tell me that there will be a high cost for all of this convenience on many fronts.
The Dark Side
In The New Abnormal – The Rise of the Biomedical Security State, a book written by Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, M.D. and published in 2022, the author has appended an intriguing 23-page Epilogue called “Seattle, 2030,” depicting the everyday life of an American middle-aged male in that year and place. His life is immersed in high-tech tracking devices and wearables. It is a life of convenience and ease; but also, as it turns out, a life that becomes a nightmare.
And that is what I see happening in the near future as the population increasingly adopts wearables and they become every bit as indispensable to them as smartphones are today. We will have convenience, yes, but really at the cost of our souls.
The danger is not only that wearers will be constantly exposed to harmful radiation from these devices, let alone to the “forever chemicals” like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in watchbands, but also that wearables function as tracking tools recording your health data, location, and other personal information you may want to keep private. Together, corporations and governments are building an all-encompassing surveillance system that links people directly to the “Internet of Things and Bodies,” expanding constant monitoring into every aspect of daily life.
It will increasingly be used to profile individuals, such as determining their level of insurance risk. Your data will inevitably be leaked and made available not only on the black market but also through consensual transfers of data. It can be used by prospective employers to screen out “undesirable” employees. More innocuously, it can also be used to bombard you with annoying advertisements.
The list of dangerous negatives far outweigh the positive, potential uses of wearables by the vast majority of the population. Just consider what happened with 23andMe, where a major data breach in 2023 exposed the personal records of almost 7 million people. It served as a canary-in-the-coalmine, early-warning example for anyone with critical thinking skills.
NHF attorney Thomas Renz has cautioned that, “the wearables are all about data. How much of our personal data do we want to give to AI? It sounds like sci-fi but the openly stated goal of the tech companies is to create a digital clone of you so they can “test” whatever custom drug they think you need. I personally do not want a digital clone, nor do I trust the results of any tests done on a digital clone. Thankfully, they cannot clone you if they don’t have your data, but wearables frequently share important data that could be used towards that end with everyone through their EULA’s [End User License Agreement].”
But, as commentator Jon Rappoport aptly put it, “whatever happened to MAHA promoting sunlight, sleep, nutrition, exercise, heat/cold, herbs, magnesium, earthing, breathwork, laughter, connection, fasting, music, dancing, singing, creating, loving?” To which I add, “how can immersing ourselves in wearable tech truly bring happiness when it risks turning us into nothing more than data-harvesting subjects for the powerful elite?”
Associated Press Report: “The Trump administration announced it is launching a new program that will allow Americans to share personal health data and medical records across health systems and apps run by private tech companies, promising that will make it easier to access health records and monitor wellness.” “More than 60 companies, including major tech companies like Google, Amazon and Apple as well as health care giants like UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health, have agreed to share patient data in the system. The initiative will focus on diabetes and weight management, conversational artificial intelligence that helps patients, and digital tools such as QR codes and apps that register patients for check-ins or track medications.”