Wearable Tech Tracks Your Carbon Footprint--A Good Thing Or Not?

Design is often about making things simpler, more beautiful, more efficient. In the words of the late Massimo Vignelli, designers are in a fight against ugliness. 

But there is another kind of design that makes things worse and more complex. The designers who take part in this may mean well, have good intentions, or are simply able to marry a cool design idea with a seemingly hot issue. But this is where things get very tricky, if not undermining of the very humans design seeks to facilitate. 

In the uber-stylish Dezeen Magazine, a wearable-tech design is featured that tracks one's carbon footprint. Sounds like a good idea right? I mean, who wouldn't want a wearable that looks like something out of a sci-fi film crossed with Prada? And, who in the eco-conscious world of the 21st Century wouldn't want something that tracks one's carbon consumption? Wouldn't you want to be more eco-responsible? 

The Worldbeing Wearable.

Under the moniker "World Being," which sounds like something out of Aliens, this wrist band will map out your consumption and connect that information up to your mobile device. The vision isn't small, in spite of the actual size of the device: 

Worldbeing is a wearable and app supported by the Carbon Trust that tracks energy usage, empowering you to make better decisions to help halt climate change. We have envisioned a tool with the potential to enable a community of likeminded users to inspire a movement and transform the world.

Again, sounds really cool and hip and relevant--right? 

Well....

Tracks carbon footprint on your mobile device.

One way we can look at this is as part of a world of transparency; a world in which your moves are tracked by third parties and governments and businesses. We are already aware of the relaying of our personal data to the National Security Agency of the United States, and more is being leaked about similar ways in which our personal data isn't safe, especially through our mobile technology. 

Enter now a really cool designer bracelet that tracks your 'carbon consumption': what will follow? Will you get a bill in the mail for carbon consumption? Will you see your home taxes increase as a result of the information you are sending out? What other activities is this bracelet going to track as your comings and goings are being mapped out? 

These are simple questions we need to ask ourselves as technology is becoming more seductive and tied to third party interests in our personal information.