A company in Seattle has designed a smart tracker that vibrates to alert you every time you touch your mouth, nose or eyes.
Immutouch is a device that fastens around your wrist like a regular smartwatch or fitness tracker. The only difference is that, instead of counting your steps or monitoring your heart rate, this wearable will count how many times you touch your face in a day.
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The device will also vibrate whenever you touch your mouth, nose or eyes, essentially training your body to build more hygienic habits now and for the future.
“On average, people touch their face 23 times per hour”, claims Immutouch on its website. “Everytime you touch your face, Immutouch vibrates, making you aware of an otherwise unconscious behaviour. By making you aware of each occurence, you’ll stop the habit of passively touching your face.”
Image: Immutouch
Users simply need to strap on the watch and pair it with the Immutouch app. The device will then vibrate to alert the user whenever their hand enters a pre-calibrated position and track the data in a graph so users can see when they touch their face most in the app.
The app can be paired with one band or two, depending on whether you would live to track both hands or just your most dominant one.
The Immutouch band uses the same gravimetric hand position technology as the company’s Slightly Robot Bracelet, a similar smartband designed to battle the compulsive skin picking, nail biting and hair pulling caused by trichotillomania.
Image: Immutouch
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“A problem the size of COVID-19 requires everyone to do their part, large or small”, said co-founder Matthew Toles. “The three of us happened to be uniquely well equipped to tackle this one task and felt it was our duty to at least try”.
Immutouch is available to order now at immutouch.com for $49.99, with international shipping available. However, you might need to wait a few weeks to receive your wearable – all orders purchased from now will ship on April 6 to keep up with demand.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.