Tech Tuesday: Wearable tech to alter your mood

Sam Vander Forest

A tech start-up “Thync,” based out of Silicon Valley, seems to have the next big thing in wearable tech–a headpiece that can give the consumer their desired state of mind in 10 minutes or less.

Recently tested by writers at USATODAY, Thync’s product as the tech version of mood-enhancers like coffee, wine and energy drinks. John Shinal, who tested the product, wrote, “Based on how well it worked on both of us, Thync has the potential to create the most transformative consumer technology to come out of Silicon Valley in a long time.”

The product triggers neurotransmitters to get the desired effect for the user, and is based on more than a decade of research by two of the scientific co-founders from Arizona State University and Harvard. The team notes that humans have various mental states, but can’t call them up willingly, and that is what they are working to change with their product. The company is still field testing the product and is in talks with the Federal Drug Administration, and it will be interesting to see the first product like this of its kind.

It’s interesting to think about a product like this in the sense of wearable technology, because mood-enhancers are not a new thing, but a device that has the potential to do it with greater efficiency and power can be daunting. Who knows, maybe 20 years from now you could just hook up your smartphone to the headpiece and get over that traumatic break up right away and skip the Ben & Jerry’s aftermath?