By Jason Warner
Personal and societal health are intricately linked. Wellness takes form in many ways from our mental resiliency to our physical capabilities. The COVID-19 virus has made it tragically clear that personal wellness protects us from being at high risk of dying from this disease. But as a society, we are bombarded by messages and policies that contradict a wellness mindset. Junk food as a lifestyle, controversial ways of handling addiction and the glorification of success at any cost. Since March of 2020, we have all changed our habits in one way or another. Unfortunately, many for the worst. But we have an opportunity to reflect and move forward in a much more positive way. One that is illuminated by an understanding of why we can drive our own wellness and through technology, with information and experiences that can help us in our journey.
At Fortress Data Centers, we are in the interconnectivity business. Our job is to ensure that all opportunities to connect people, businesses, systems and institutions for the good of our constituents is maximized. As the saying goes, knowledge is power, but we work to take it further by helping turn knowledge into understanding, then motivation and finally execution. Here are a couple of areas that a focus on Edge Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) Augmented Reality (AR) and 5G enabled interconnectivity will help drive ourselves and our world to a better place.
Devices like FitBits and the Apple Watch have gotten our attention because they give us information. To be well, we start with information. That can come from simply listening to your body and processing what it is telling you or supplementing it with what technology can give you. All change starts at the personal level, including change that can roll up or down to the community and world. Someone makes a decision and the consequences are felt.
New ways to get information are coming our way including a new method to practice good breathing techniques using a wearable device connected to a phone-based VR application. As per Juan Comparán, CEO and Founder of Ilimita, proper breathing is at the core of our being. It has been proven that a practiced breathing regimen can significantly improve our mental and physical wellbeing.
With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), new ways of using Virtual and Augmented Reality are helping those diagnosed deal with a confusing world. VR is also becoming very successful for visualization of what we can be, whether that is in the motivation to lose weight or for mental stimulation as we age. Simulation methods basically trick the brain into recognizing the experiences we have in VR as memories. As proponents of self-help therapy espouse, visualization techniques can manifest success.
AR is well known for gaming scenarios like Pokémon Go but the true breakout will be when we have fashionable glasses that we wear which connects us to an incredible amount of data in our surrounding area. Apple is working on a glass’s device that promises to give us what we want from AR. Fashion meets functionality. Other companies have been working on this for years and we will see a massive movement to personal devices that we proudly wear and use. They will give us information to make our lives better such as reminders of our eating goals, inspiration to take a few more spins on our bikes or a reminder of the negatives around choices that can be addictive.
On addiction, the opportunity to interrupt the messages in our brains that drive us to take an action that can cause us harm is possible with technology. We start with awareness through sensor information on or in our bodies. We continue with behavioral change training using VR and other methods. We support by using AR and AI to ensure we are sending messages that help us deal with the challenges of addiction. Imagine the societal change that can happen when each of us are empowered to use all of these tools to become healthier.
At the same time, our information needs to be protected and personal. We live in a democracy that does not give all the power to the state in ways that can lead to manipulation. Fortress Data Centers’ role as a data connectivity environment means that we are focused on driving an Edge connected world that starts at the lowest point of data generation. We are committed to delivering Mission-Critical Colocation to get providers closer to the end-user, 5G enablement to drive fast and low latency movement of data, blockchain to allow our personal data privacy, and other ways with partners and customers to build a better society, one business, and one person at a time.