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I encountered a major problem during the unboxing of my Meta Ray-Ban Display review unit. To control the glasses’ display, you’ll have to wear a separate neural band on your dominant wrist. This isn’t a problem for most people, but I test wearables for a living. I’m always double-writing smartwatches. On that particular day, my dominant wrist was otherwise occupied by a Google Pixel Watch 4. If the Neural Band and Pixel Watch 4 couldn’t play well together, I was really in trouble.
thankfully, they Did Play well together. However, I did not have Ora Ring 4 on my right index finger. It interfered with scrolling gestures, so I had to switch it to my other hand.
Cue a facepalm that would have made Captain Picard proud.
Later that day, I took care of the dumpster fire that is my inbox. Various wearable companies had laid siege. Had I completed testing their device? Would I be interested in doing another test? This is anecdotal, but in 2025, more wearable devices have been introduced than any other year in my entire career. I wanted to scream. I only have two wrists, 10 fingers (only six of which are suitable for smart rings), two ears, a chest, neck, and face on which to test the growing number of gadgets I wear 24/7, 365 days a year.
For most of my career, I completely agree that this is a rare problem that I volunteer and get paid to deal with. Except for the last two years, I’ve been feeling that Big Tech increasingly wants more people – maybe everyone – to live like me.
This fear first came to my mind when I tested the Samsung Galaxy Ring last year. As I wrote in my review, this was not a device designed to stand on its own. while you can Use it as an alternative to a smartwatch, it is meant as an accessory for Galaxy Watch. This is a tool to take you into Samsung’s orbit. As smart rings have gained popularity, an increasing number of friends, family, coworkers, colleagues, and readers have asked for my readings on the Ora ring. Most people were looking for something more comfortable and with more battery life than a smartwatch, but were disappointed by the idea of giving up visible notifications or haptic alarms. When I said that the Aura Ring works best in conjunction with a smartwatch, many people criticized me, and not in return, because most of People.
Now sprinkle the recent influx of AI hardware on top of this.
Humane’s ill-fated AI Pin was something you wore on your lapel, but it couldn’t replace a phone or a smartwatch. When I tested the Always Listening AI Wearable B, I had to decide whether it took up limited wrist real estate or rested on my neck. I was somewhat relieved that, despite all its faults, the Friend was something to wear around my neck, a body part relatively unused to wearable tech… until now.
It’s clear to me that in the search for what will come after the smartphone, tech companies have decided that they should stick to this – and ultimately, In – Our body. (Look: brain-computer interface and continuous glucose monitor.)
I wish I could write it off as my paranoia. Unfortunately, you can see signs of it in how tech executives talk about this next wave of hands-free computing.
Earlier this summer, I spoke with Sandeep Warraich, Google’s product lead for Pixel wearables, and Rishi Chandra, Google’s vice president of Fitbit and Health. Both told me in no uncertain terms that Google envisions “a diverse set of assistive devices with AI in the future.” He told me that the appeal of smartwatches and headphones was that these are existing products that you already use.
Similarly, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told sources say“There are 1 to 2 billion people who wear glasses every day for vision correction. Is there a world where, in five or seven years, the majority of those glasses are AI glasses in some capacity?” Meanwhile, Apple is also said to be moving towards smart glasses, and it’s no secret what its stance is on the product ecosystem. The more you buy, the better.
Add in Samsung’s play with the Galaxy Ring and whatever OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Jony Ive are building, and you have strong evidence that Big Tech’s power players are working toward foisting as many gadgets on us as possible. It would be nice if this could be streamlined One Wearable, but the challenge is that no two bodies are ever the same. You’ll never blink with smart glasses meant to track sleep, smart rings aren’t recommended for lifting weights, and smartwatches aren’t comfortable for some people.
Call me a cynic. I’m sure these companies will claim that you will have the choice of which accessories you use, as well as the build you feel Like if you don’t buy everything you’re missing out.
It’s not just Big Tech. A few months ago, Health Secretary RFK Jr., speaking about continuous glucose monitors and fitness trackers, said he wanted a wearable device Everyone American in four years. With this effort towards smartwatches, smart rings and smart glasses turn it too? Welcome to my life, baby.
This existential crisis was brought to you A vergecast hotline I helped answer earlier this week. The caller asked if they should start the two-smartwatch life. His Apple Watch alone wasn’t enough to track strength training And run. To get the best possible performance, should they add a Garmin and synchronize the two products?
My answer is a vague “absolutely not.”
My tolerance for this multi-device hellscape is pretty high, but it’s still a hellscape. look at meI live a life of permanent double watch tan, abstain from AI necklaces, and do a 30-minute data review session every morning when I wake up and after every workout. My eyes are starting to hurt from constantly looking at the display of smart glasses. (they are rarely In the best case scenario!) When I wear a CGM, I check the effect of every piece of food that passes my lips. Whenever I receive a notification, my body vibrates from various devices eager to let me know that a neighbor has passed by my Nest doorbell. As I recently wrote adapterI have to build detox days to make sure I Use these tools, not otherwise.
If the purpose of all this is to make life better, then I need Big Tech to think deep and long about whether the problems they’re trying to solve were really problems to begin with. Take it from me, a wearable maximalist: I’m exhausted, losing body parts, and feeling more cyborg than human with each passing day. And if we run blindly towards the future, where Everyone It seems like? We’ve forgotten why any of us liked technology in the first place.
Photography by Victoria Song/The Verge
