As a young adult, it's inevitable that at some point you're going to have one too many drinks. Even the most responsible of us are bound to have a House Hunters drinking game (oh, it exists) that gets a little carried away or a girls' night out that turns into a full-out sob fest over an ex or two. It happens. But now, there's a handy bracelet that lets your friends know when you've had a little too much. Vive Smart Bracelet monitors your alcohol and dehydration levels when you go out, and lets your friends know if you've had too much.
While Vive Smart is only a nonworking prototype at the moment, it has a variety of features that help keep you connected to friends and, most importantly, stay safe on a night out. The band connects to a smartphone app, and monitors your alcohol intake as soon as you start drinking. It will then buzz periodically throughout the night, and if you squeeze the bracelet in response, the app translates that as you being fine. When you don't squeeze the bracelet though, the app then notifies your friends via social media platforms to come find you and make sure you're okay.
As clever of an idea as this is, there's a few things that I'm not sure about here. First of all, how does it choose who to notify on social media, and how does it do so? Does it just post a Facebook status, "____ is drunk off her ass right now. Please, SOMEONE, ANYONE: send assistance soon."
Another problem is the whole "squeezing the bracelet means you're okay" thing. I don't know about you guys, but I've sent some text message novels, all complete with punctuation and witty 'I don't need you or any man' one-liners, while intoxicated, so it's safe to say that squeezing a bracelet doesn't mean all that much. Plus, if squeezing that bracelet is all that it requires to not have a shaming, mass-message announcing my intoxication levels to all of my friends on social media, then you better believe I will find a way to squeeze that bracelet no matter what my state of intoxication.
In essence, the app is a pretty smart idea. But along with many other wearable tech items, the whole thing probably sounds cooler than it might actually be in practical, day-to-day life.
For most girls, their closest friends already know the red flags indicating that we've had one too many. For me, it's when I start buying the entire bar drinks, but it's different for everyone. And that's kind of how alcohol works, everyone handles it differently — so squeezing a bracelet probably doesn't mean all that much at the end of the day.
