Humanity is 'wasting its time on wearable technology and medical apps', says doctor

Health apps could cause extreme and needless anxiety, according to GP

Health apps and wearable technology are harmless to citizens but also useless, according to Des Spence, a general practitioner from Glasgow, Scotland.

In the British Medical Journal (BMJ), Spence takes part in a debate on whether healthy people can benefit from health apps.

He said that medical apps for smartphones and tablets supposedly promote mental health, aid sleep, cause weight loss, and help in every other conceivable medical condition - and that many apps are endorsed by the NHS. But he said these were all mostly harmless "and likely useless".

However, many of these apps are now used as part of wearable technology - part of the Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon - and offer such features such as continuous physical monitoring of fetal heartbeat in pregnancy, blood pressure, heart rate and pulse oximetry. Yet, Spence is not convinced of all of the benefits associated with these apps.

"Health ‘bling' is everywhere," he said, adding that the UK is an "unhealthily health-obsessed generation who will seize on these new health apps and devices".

"Most medical research and diagnoses are based on isolated readings taken in medical clinics in symptomatic, older, high risk individuals, by doctors who can interpret results - not by young, asymptomatic, middle-class neurotics continuously monitoring their vital signs while they sleep," Spence said.

"The truth is that these apps and devices are untested and unscientific, and they will open the door of uncertainty. Make no mistake: diagnostic uncertainty ignites extreme anxiety in people. We must reflect on what we might lose here, rather than what we might gain," he added.

He believes the only beneficiaries of "health bling" would be the drugs industry.

"Humanity is wasting its time on monitoring life rather than getting on and living it. Wearable technology and medical apps? No thanks; I'll take my chances," he said.

But others in the health industry don't agree - in January, the NHS's medical director Sir Bruce Keogh claimed wearable tech could revolutionise healthcare.