Midway through a keynote presentation at a recent seminar, the person sitting next to me suddenly stood up. 

The presenter was waxing eloquent on the trends and opportunities within the Internet of Things (IoT) space. The session was not meant to be interactive – no time was allocated for Q&A.

“He needs a bio break,” I told myself. However, he appeared to be in no hurry to leave the room.

Fortunately, he had the aisle seat and did not completely block out the view of the person sitting directly behind him.

He then started stretching.

For about a minute or so he went through the motions of head rotations, arm stretches, and leg shaking before he sat down back next to me.

It was as if it was the most normal thing to do!

Then it dawned on me. He must have received a notification.

His wearable device had just told him that he was sitting for too long. It was time to stand up and move around.

Welcome to the world of wearables where we take instructions from machines while ignoring advice from humans – mothers, doctors, family, and friends.

If you are thinking that wearables are for nerds and geeks, think again. Wearables have crept into the lives of regular folks like us.

You may already be relying on machines and avoiding human interactions.

When was the last time you stopped to ask for directions? Would you rather not use the GPS on your phone?

Are you taking your dog for one extra walk to keep your Fitbit happy?

Think of all the normal things that you would wear. A shirt or a blouse, a pair of pants or a skirt, underclothes, and shoes. Perhaps you wear glasses, sport a watch on your wrist, and carry a wallet in your pocket.

Now put your nerdy hat on. Every one of those items listed above has wearable versions of it.

Here’s a sample.

Clothes: OMSignal, Hexoskin

Socks: Sensoria

Belt: Belty

Shoes: Lechal, Volvorii Timeless

Underwear: Sensoria, Fundawear

Wallet: Apple watch (Apple Pay), Bpay by Barclay card, Jawbone with Amex

Glasses: Google Glass, Sony SmartEyeglass, Microsoft Hololens

Watch: Apple Watch, Samsung

You may not have gotten past the GPS and Fitbit stage yet. Making payments through your mobile device does not sound too geeky and could be next.

Maybe you are ready to go all in.

Wearables are moving from biometric sensors to what they call Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) sensors – the system used in lie detector tests. The sensors can be used to measure your emotions and predict stress levels and changes in moods. The weird-looking GER Mood sweater does just that – display your emotional state by changing colours for everyone to see.

For now, I will pass on that one.

So where do you fit in?

The whole thing reminds me of Pink Floyd’s song.