健康科技承诺带来简单——为什么感觉反而更费事？
Health Tech Promised Simplicity — Why Does It Feel Like More Work?
我们大多数人都熟悉这种感觉。我们醒来后，甚至还没下床，就会查看手机、天气、睡眠评分、夜间新闻以及当天的日程安排。
无休止的实时、按需信息流看似是现代生活的一项福利。但研究结果很明确——它并没有让我们更快乐。根据一项近期调查，美国人平均每天花在手机上的时间超过五小时。超过半数的调查参与者表示希望减少手机使用时间，其中64%的人说这样做会改善他们的心理和身体健康。近年来，我们看到澳大利亚、马来西亚和英国等国家开始采取措施，禁止16岁以下的人使用社交媒体。我们也知道，智能手机使用量的增加与抑郁、压力、焦虑和睡眠质量不佳发生率的上升有关无意中，健康科技行业也通过不断增加的产品清单助推了这种数据过载，而这些产品原本旨在帮助人们过上更健康的生活。智能手表等可穿戴健康追踪器已经流行了十多年，并且变得越来越小巧、越来越先进。如今，下一代健康科技正变得无处不在：从 Claude for Healthcare 等 AI 驱动工具，到健康追踪耳环、台灯和床垫。
这些进步引发了我们与健康之间关系的重大变化，促成了许多人所称的“测量我”运动。过去，我们会依靠初级保健医生和年度体检来改善福祉；如今，全球数百万人正在将健康掌握在自己手中，追踪各项指标、解读数据并调整自己的行为。
随着优化福祉的动力不断增强，人们越来越多地转向使用最初为特定医疗需求而设计的健康工具。例如，连续血糖监测仪——这些设备已被证实并获批准用于帮助糖尿病患者管理血糖——已经开始受到没有糖尿病、但希望更好地了解自身代谢和能量水平的人群欢迎。
了解身体内部正在发生的事情，为我们掌控自身福祉创造了巨大的机会，但这也带来了新的期望和新的压力。
许多可穿戴健康设备用户表示，设备向他们发送的通知会让他们感到压力或焦虑，常常对其身体或心理健康造成负面影响。对于那些管理慢性疾病的人来说，这些影响会更加严重，因为他们本来每天就必须围绕健康问题做出数百个细小决定。技术应该减轻这种心理负担。那么，健康科技究竟如何才能真正帮助人们过上更好的生活？
下一个前沿方向是能够融入日常生活的技术，而不是让生活去适应技术。问题不在于健康科技创新落后了，而在于我们一直在优化错误的目标。
能够融入生活的技术，意味着以人的体验为出发点引领创新，设计出能够为我们完成更多事情、却不要求我们付出更多的技术。
健康科技行业仍在学习这种理念在实践中应当是什么样子。但其原则是明确的。我们的首要任务应当是寻找更好的方式，为消费者减少需要做出的决定：将能够自动化的事情自动化，尽量减少打扰，只呈现真正需要采取行动的事项，并在后台处理其余事务。
展望未来，问题不在于健康科技行业是否会继续发展（答案是会），也不在于自我护理和“测量我”趋势是否会放缓（答案是不会）。
问题在于，这个行业是否会采取一种创新方式，最终兑现其承诺：让管理健康状况不再需要与之共处的人们付出那么多。
我相信这样的未来是可能实现的，但这需要共同努力。我们的行业必须团结起来，确立这样一项标准：真正有意义的创新——无论是在医疗保健领域还是其他领域——并不是创造最多的功能或最多的数据，而是消除最多的阻力。这是整个健康行业都可以共同努力实现的愿景。
图片：ipopba，Getty Images
Manoj Raghunandanan Manoj Raghunandanan是Insulet的首席增长官。Insulet 是 Omnipod 的制造商；Omnipod 是业内领先的、面向糖尿病患者的自动胰岛素输送平台。在加入 Insulet 之前，Manoj 曾任职于 Johnson & Johnson 和 Kenvue，期间在亚洲、欧洲和美国生活，并在消费品和医疗科技领域担任领导职务长达二十年。他曾任 Kenvue 首届执行委员会成员，负责其规模达60亿美元的全球 OTC 产品组合；最近，他担任北欧地区总经理。
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Most of us know the feeling. We wake up and, before we even get out of bed, we check our phone, the weather, our sleep score, overnight news, our schedule for the day.
An endless stream of real-time, on-demand information may seem like a benefit of modern life. But the studies are clear — it isn’t making us happier. According to a recent survey, Americans spend an average of over five hours a day on their phones. Over half of the survey’s participants said they’d like to cut down their phone usage, with 64 percent saying it would improve their mental and physical health. In recent years, we’ve seen countries like Australia, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom move to shut down social media for people under the age of 16. And we know increased smartphone use is linked to rising rates of depression, stress, anxiety, and poor sleep.
Unintentionally, the health tech industry has contributed to this data overload with an ever-growing list of products meant to help people live healthier lives. Wearable health trackers like smartwatches have been popular for more than a decade, getting smaller and more sophisticated. Now, the next generation of health tech is becoming ubiquitous: from AI-powered tools, such as Claude for Healthcare, to health-tracking earrings, lamps, and mattresses.
These advancements have sparked major changes in our relationship with health, setting off what many have called the “measure me” movement. Where we once looked to primary care doctors and annual physicals to improve our well-being, millions around the world are taking health into their own hands, tracking their metrics, interpreting their data, and adapting their behaviors.
As the drive to optimize our well-being grows, people are increasingly turning to health tools originally designed for specific medical needs. For example, continuous glucose monitors — devices proven and approved to help those living with diabetes manage their blood sugar — have started to be embraced by those without diabetes who want to better understand their metabolism and energy levels.
Being tuned in to what’s happening within our bodies creates a tremendous opportunity to take control of our well-being, but it also creates new expectations and new pressures.
Many wearable health device users say the notifications they receive from their devices make them feel stressed or anxious, often leading to negative impacts on their physical or mental health. These effects are compounded for those managing chronic conditions who already must make hundreds of small decisions each day related to their health. Technology should reduce this mental burden. So, how can health tech actually help people live better lives?
The next frontier is liveable technology that fits into daily life instead of making life adapt to it. The issue isn’t that health tech innovation is lagging behind. It’s that we’ve been optimizing for the wrong thing.
Liveable technology is about leading innovation from the human experience and designing technology that does more for us, without asking more of us.
The health tech industry is still learning what this looks like in practice. But the principle is clear. Our priority should be finding better ways to scale back decisions for consumers by automating what can be automated, minimizing interruptions, surfacing only what truly requires action, and handling the rest in the background.
As we look to the future, the question is not whether the health tech industry will continue to advance (it will) or whether the self-care and “measure me” trends will slow down (they won’t).
The question is whether the sector will adopt an approach to innovation that finally fulfills its promise: a world where managing health conditions demands less from the people living with them.
I believe such a future is possible, but it will require a united effort. Our sector must come together and set the standard that truly meaningful innovation — in health care and beyond — isn’t creating the most features or the most data, but removing the most friction. It’s a vision the whole health industry can work toward.
Photo: ipopba, Getty Images Manoj Raghunandanan Manoj Raghunandanan is Chief Growth Officer at Insulet, maker of Omnipod, the industry-leading automated insulin delivery platform for people with diabetes. Prior to Insulet, Manoj was a leader at Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue, where he spent two decades across consumer and med tech categories while living in Asia, Europe, and the US. He served on the inaugural Executive Committee at Kenvue, overseeing its $6B Global OTC portfolio and most recently was the GM across Northern Europe.
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