5 minute read
Life-enhancement, self-development, and motivation become the main consumer values driving their purchases. As the stress factors of modern life have an increased influence, there is a need for higher support and monitoring of daily habits. Inspiring books and digital apps help track habits and get rid of bad ones. What is next? Can persuasive technology and smart homes change people addressing physical and psychological needs of the population?
The Rise of “Self” Industry
Already in 2013, 51% of UK have taken selfies. The concentration on the own personality and its importance makes millennials and Gen-Z obsessive when it comes to their appearance and lifestyles. Moreover, they are trying to enhance every part of their life starting from personal development and habits to the home organization. The most successful enabler for the customers is new technologies that can become augmented into the reality – the current apps market is intense and rapidly growing. Users from 190 countries download apps every day. High market shares of app market belong to personalization and productivity enhancement. Also, brain developing games are not left behind with 22.8% out of total game download.
People’s interest in continuous development defines the growth of self-industry with the worth of $9.9 billion in 2016. The U.S. self-enhancement market is projected to increase by 5.6% by 2022 with the forecasted value of $13.2 billion. Coaching industry nurtures as a consequence of the total market rise. According to ICF and PwC, coaching value was $955 million in 2015 in the USA solely whereas the international wellness market accounted for 3.7 trillion in 2015. The coach in the USA remains a profitable profession with the average salary of $62,000 per annum. The era of the self-focused industry will continue its growth triggered by technological trends, innovations, and the importance of addressing social and health issues.
Touching
every sphere of living
The self-centered trend started with books promoting increased attention to the surroundings such as Konmari’s magic cleaning. According to this Asian philosophy, every object ought to be cherished, and adding value to things becomes a priority. Self-development books gave upswing to digital apps to embed healthy habits such as drinking water, doing sports, and meditating into a daily routine to change lifestyle and modify personality. Apart from encouraging the development of positive habits, digitalization helps deal with negative behaviors. Today, IT specialists couple up with medical and health professionals and create applications to assist people in quitting smoking – QuitGenius uses scientifically proven approach and tech to diminish this bad habit. The recent study by Tobacco Prevention & Cessation shows that the positive effect of these smartphone apps – their tracking mechanism, high application’s engagement, and social media discussion contribute to greater success rates.
Decreasing international smoking levels remains a priority – approximately 7 million people smoke every year. According to World Health Organization, tobacco kills over 50% of its users, and 890,000 people are second-hand smokers. The proven effectiveness of the apps addresses this issue, and they could be utilized to deal with other types of addictions like substance abuse by encouraging positive behavior. Whereas taking advantage of habit trackers and different monitoring apps at the governmental level could help increase control over the health of the population. Apps play a role of mediator making global health goals reachable. Moreover, they are prevention strategy for many negative behaviors practically covering every sphere of human life.
The Time of Smart Homes
The era of smart technology helps self-industry go beyond the usage of the apps and simple gadgets. Apple’s home automation, HomeKit, allows controlling home devices with a single product – with the help of sensors, it is possible to monitor humidity, air quality and other essential conditions for one’s health. Smart homes are more complex, they can affect human living from a plethora of perspectives from changing daily rituals to improving security, entertainment, and healthcare. In the USA, a majority of people older than 65 years old require homecare whereas 96% of those need help with taking a shower. Offering this assistance is not always possible due to the shortage of medical personnel internationally. Currently, the deficit accounts for 7 million and is expected to reach 12.9 million by 2035. The future unique features of smart homes resolve the issue where every person can have the required assistance or simply will be taken care of when being sick.
Smart homes use persuasive technology at its core. This innovation can enhance human living in the desired way. The house itself can be compared to a large-scale application where a diversity of habits can be tracked with KPIs. With the complex tracking system, psychological behaviors and human-computer relationships can be modified. This partly resolves the social problem of spending many hours on online – 116 minutes daily – rather than on face-to-face interactions. Simultaneously, a diversity of sensors make smart homes sustainable, eco-friendly solutions to preserve energy and incorporate its effective usage into one’s living. The époque of smart homes is slowly entering the consumer world – these houses enhance the quality of living, change the existent lifestyle, and help people with different disorders and medical conditions. Addressing the complex needs of the population becomes a priority where “better habits – better health” is a new motto of the century.
