Tech moves from data collection to behaviour modification

Would you listen to your fork if it said you were eating too quickly?

That's the idea behind the Hapifork -which links up to your phone viaBluetoothto store data about your eating habits, but also alerts you with lights and vibration when it thinks you're eating too fast.

It's just one of the many products you'll find today that do more than just collect data, butaim to help correct behaviour on the spotuntil a desired behaviour becomesa habit.

Other such devices include the Muse headband - whichliterally monitors your brainwaves and plays differentsounds depending on your mood.Its primary function is to help you understand what's making you anxious or stressed whenyou go about your day.

And the new Apple Watch has a number of health-focused features, including an option to deliver a little bump onyour wrist when you've been sitting for too long.

The trend has the attention of David Harris Smith. Anassistant professor of communication studies and multimedia atMcMasterUniversity, he focuses on the emerging technologies that insert themselves into our day-to-day lives.

Technology is useful, but no cure-all

"One of the things that theseappsare doing is kind of attempting to offload some of thedeliberative effort,the work that goes into consciously remindingourselves or consciously deciding we need to slow down," Smith says."And I think this is actually wise."

However, that's only the beginning of the process of changing a habit, which is why Smithsays these technologies are not a cure-all.

"I don't think we're going to discover anything special about the success rate of thesekinds of applications," he says. "There still isa large component of willpower that'sconstantly demanded to say, 'Yes I will continue to adhere to using this app.'"

Smith says the technologyyou're using may well help you whileyou're using it,but you still have to commit to using it in the first place.

However, he says the technologies that focus on behavioural change are taking usin a good direction, becausewe're removing theories and speculation about our own behaviour.

"I think we can all be glad that we're now kind of departing the realm of magical thinking,and actuallycollectingandtrovingthrough our behaviours and our own personal biology forscientific facts about ourselves."