Health: why are some connected objects a success and others a flop?

Summary By wearing the Oura connected ring on their finger night and day, everyone can find out how well they are sleeping. Thanks to a connected patch attached to the arm, diabetics can find out their blood sugar level without having to prick their fingertip. On February 9, these two objects received one of the mobile health trophies awarded by a jury of experts at the IUT Paris-Diderot, attesting to their real added value for the user. Lately, manufacturers of watches, bracelets, glasses and other connected objects have been promising a lot. Too much, judging by the gap between the explosion of the offer and the very modest place these devices occupy in our daily lives. Most of them are just gadgets, bought on a whim and quickly forgotten in a drawer. The time has not yet come when these devices will be as familiar and vital to us as our smartphone. While wellness-related connected objects are struggling to convince people of their usefulness, others belonging to the category of medical devices have become indispensable to patients. They are mainly used for diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a disease, such as blood glucose meters in the case of diabetes. This raises the question of how their users appropriate them.