What do you think of the surge in wearable technology, such as smartwatches, smarter clothing, eyewear, and even hearables (ear-worn devices) -- essentially wearable computers capable of communication

In the long run it will lead to a total disengagement with reality. This is better known either as psychosis or the beginning of a Matrix world. But since reality - the planet upon which we rely - is degrading as fast as it is then perhaps this delusional disengagement will afford temporary relief.

We'll see the emergence of tribes: those who opt for the smorgasbord (actually more IV drip), those who prefer their tech a-la-carte, and steampunks who grow their own, to name a few.

FB and other organisations have already seduced many of us into forfeiting our privacy. Gargle searches based on what its algorithms decide we want. Our cognitive dissonance, memory and other brain functions validate results that bring us down a (largely) deja-vu path of feel-good, but ultimately tail-chasing and self-limiting, familiarity.

Less than 50 years after UK readers were finally allowed to read Lady Chatterly's Lover, cease-and-desist orders, whether state or corporate, were again dictating what content is appropriate for the masses. Gargle's love-in with a billionaire politburo bodes further ill for our freedom to think for ourselves.

Reasons to be cheerful include the success of the online Ai Weiwei/Lego campaign, search engine DuckDuckGo, and the recent ostracism of pilot users (dubbed Gla$sholes) of Gargle's wearable.

The happiest colleague I ever had was someone with no TV, a conscientious objector to spoon-fed ordure.

With devices rendering this exponentially growing prolefeed ubiquitous, I'll take my tech a-la-carte, thank you.

As I get older I find I need less and less technology around me. I do not need to be connected 24/7 - if I want to go online it's a choice I make just as I would deciding to watch the match and/or having another beer. These days it seems to me if anything of note happens to someone they feel the need to share it with the world immediatly. What ever happened to saying to someone "you'll never guess what happened to me last week?".

I think the idea is great - though the execution is often lacking. That's what happens when creative, innovative people don't necessarily have the engineering skills or the corporate infrastructure to bring a complicated piece of equipment from prototype to market. That's why I often see wearable tech that is impressive, but doesn't actually do anything I'd want.

Thankfully, we're seeing an explosion of low-priced, tiny, powerful computers that can make wearable tech a reality and STEM educators, like "Lady Ada", popularizing amateur invention and experimentation. I don't have to wait for Samsung, Apple, or Google to figure out what I want, because with a little bit of effort and learning I can make it myself. All we need is for 3D printers to get a little bit more available, for a few more people with cross-over skills between sewing and electrical engineering/programming, and for a few more microcontroller platforms like Flora to go mainstream, and we're going to see things happen that no one in this thread can imagine. And it won't be done by giant companies, it will be done by people who just wanna see if they can do it.

I ignore so many of these gadgets. I pefer to sit at my pottery wheel, and become one with clay and the earth. Uwagusuri development, searching for that natural beauty. More fun than gadgets. I feel one with the world that way. My tea cups are all over the world in private collections. I feel much more connected to humanity this way rather than electronically.

Short battery life limits the usefulness of these devices. Just wait until you forget to charge it, can't use it, can't measure anything with it, and it gets left on the shelf...

If you can afford it and it suits you're lifestyle, why not.

I have no need for Hexoskin "smart clothing." I know my body and what kind of workout I can / can't handle. I don't need a $500 workout attire which relays my heart rate, breathing rate, how much sleep I'm getting and calories exerted to my smart phone or ipad for an analysis.

It seems like all this technology is micromanaging everything we do to fulfill ourselves.

Electromagnetic radiation is a worry.

Technology is starting to really drive me up the wall, the damned smart phone is more than plenty & I often dream of tossing it in my beer & be done with the thing

wearable watches etc............its getting insane, I rather just step outside & enjoy the air & some nature, stuff all this tech crappola!!!

More ways to cheat in class, more bureaucratic headaches to stop cheating students.

I find some of it beneficial, and some a waste. If you only buy what you think you 'need' (ie. what you can use to benefit what you do), then it works. Those who just buy to have it and then don't use it beyond having it, are wasting their money and probably their time.

I love my smart watch. Use it constantly while exercising, use it while moving about to monitor incoming messages so that I don't need to pull out my phone all the time, to quickly check things, and at home use it as a remote control for my stereo while cooking or again at times when I would have to stop what I am doing to use an actual remote or my phone, among other things. That said, I don't use it for the full potential of what it can do, and I still think they are far too expensive.

Would never buy Google glass or anything else wearable except when it comes to future 'smart clothes'; things like 'heat tech', but much, much more technological that can tighten or loosen fibers depending on outside temperature. We already wear a lot of 'tech' developed clothes; they'll just be a lot more obvious to those of us who live in the now. Don't need self-tying shoes, though.

In future people will die of several kinds of mental disorders, Split personalities will be very common, thanks to social networking sites.

People interaction will be virtually wiped out. Body language will cease to exist.

Individuals will hallucinate within their own digital world.

All the outdoor sports will be replaced by video games on virtual reality.

No criminals will be punished unless the crime is proved digitally.

Digital sickness is the future.

As the wise men say "Information is not knowledge - Albert Einstein".