Thread: Health concerns

Is Google studying the impact of wearing Google Glass on our health? Will there be a limited time use per day or are there studies being made?

Why would this be necessary when you have persons wearing glasses everyday allday. I dont see this as a major concern of google to start studying the effects of google glass on humans or monkeys. Please remember google glass is in the developmental stage also , so significant testing is being done on all areas and this just may be one area.

Because you are wearing a computer on your head? I imagine it is at least as concerning as using a cell phone?

Originally Posted by Andrei Riciu

Medic speaking here

It may cause some problems on the long term as the lens is forced to focus on something that is very close to the eye thus some refraction problems might occur after long usage. In short terms it's highly probable that you will need to upgrade Glass with prescription lenses after heavy usage and a variable amount of time.

On the other hand if we were to think from the radiation point of view - that any electric circuit emits, on different wave lengths (GSM, WiFi, Bluetooth and so on) only a long term study can quantify the effects of a such close and durable exposure.

Yep, it's going to be years before we understand the health effects (if there are any), of Wi Fi, GSP, etc. on the human body. We just have to wait it out.

That was an informative post Andrei, I haven't even considered the harm to the eye. Hopefully we will just have fun with no harm to our health.

Originally Posted by caparica007

Because you are wearing a computer on your head? I imagine it is at least as concerning as using a cell phone?

Indeed.
But the usage model is a bit different from that of a phone in that the exposure will likely be a lot longer.
Even heavy phone users don't have the phone against their head ALL the time.

With a Google Glass it is reasonable that people will have it perched their for hours (8 or more?) without removing it.

I am not trying to be alarmist but there are still some unknowns on the impact of mobile phone usage and this adds a new dimension.

That being said, the studies done so far on phones would indicate that health risks are low to zero for most users.

In practice, I predict that the greatest health risk form GoogleGlass will be due to distracted pedestrians walking out into traffic or falling down holes that they didn't see!

They're no doubt collecting lots of information as they do about everything, but as Nub_Cannon said, it'll probably be years before the information becomes useful.

I think (and hope) that most of the concerns are similar to the old "cellphones cause cancer" and "LCD kills your eyes" arguments that turned out to be false in the end. Even with the proximity of the glasses, I don't think a small Wifi antenna or a bluetooth receiver is going to pose any severe health risks, and the small display wouldn't be any more harmful to one's eyesight than any other phone display.

Originally Posted by erronousRogue

I think (and hope) that most of the concerns are similar to the old "cellphones cause cancer" and "LCD kills your eyes" arguments that turned out to be false in the end. Even with the proximity of the glasses, I don't think a small Wifi antenna or a bluetooth receiver is going to pose any severe health risks, and the small display wouldn't be any more harmful to one's eyesight than any other phone display.

Indeed this is what I rightly suspect but we are to tread on unfamiliar and potentially dangerous territory and should tread with much caution. Although the majority of arguments against the ill-effects of technological advancement have proven to be false or at the very most inconsequential, we should remember that this is still new technology. And although it may seem harmless and history may attribute little need for caution against such a product, we should nonetheless be wary of the dangers that it may pose.

My gut feel is that the largest problem (or concern of one) will come less from the effects on our vision by glass, and more from the radiation that glass emits. As Flyer28 said, never before have we had such a powerful device mounted right next to our brain and for periods as extensive as this.

The thing about Bluetooth headsets are that although they may emit significant amounts of radiation, we do not use them often and for prolonged periods of time. It just looks silly and is uncomfortable. Glass however presents a drastically different dynamic in that we will literally be accompanied by it for the majority of the day as is intended by Glass. We aren't meant to take them off and put them on whenever we require it. Part of it's design is the accessibility of Glass and the fact that we can call upon it for information whenever it is required by us. As a result, it is pretty truthful to say that we have little to no information about the long-term effects of such technology on the human brain. My bet though is the that the short-term effect of prolonged usage is going to simply be headaches. Whether that results from the radiation or having images displayed against your eye at a distance of an ant is completely up to speculation though.