The Hidden Privacy Cost of Wearable Tech

Kyla Scanlon, a New York Times contributing opinion writer and the author of In This Economy? How Money & Markets Really Work, joins Steve Hayes, Mike Warren, and John McCormack to discuss the privacy questions surrounding the rise of wearable technology and how to understand America’s modern economy. The Agenda: —Meta’s theory behind wearable tech —Are privacy concerns justified? —What is the state of the economy? —Understanding money and the stock market Show notes: Steve Hayes is CEO and editor of The Dispatch, based in Annapolis, Maryland. Prior to co-founding the company in 2019, he worked at The Weekly Standard for 18 years, covering Washington, politics, and national security. Steve is the author of two New York Times bestsellers. He also worked as a contributor at CNN and Fox News, and currently serves as a political analyst at NBC News. When Steve is not focused on The Dispatch, he’s probably traveling with his family, grilling, or riding his mountain bike. Michael Warren is a politics editor at The Dispatch and is based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the company in 2023, he was an on-air reporter at CNN and a senior writer at the Weekly Standard. When Mike is not reporting, writing, editing, and podcasting, he is probably spending time with his wife and three sons. John McCormack is a senior editor at The Dispatch and is based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the company in 2023, he was Washington correspondent at National Review and a senior writer at The Weekly Standard. When John is not reporting on politics and policy, he is probably enjoying life with his wife and daughters in northern Virginia or having fun visiting family in Wisconsin. The podcast transcription below was generated using artificial intelligence and may include occasional errors or misspellings. Steve Hayes 0:00 [upbeat music] Welcome to the Dispatch podcast. I'm Steve Hayes. On today's roundtable, we're joined by Kyla Scanlon, author of In This Economy, How Money and Markets Really Work, and a New York Times opinion contributing writer. We'll discuss her latest newsletter for Dispatch Markets about the rise of wearable technology and specifically questions of privacy concerns with the recording technology like Meta glasses. Then we'll turn to the economy. Is the US economy as strong as the stock market suggests? And how do we know? Finally, not worth your time, five cups of coffee a day? I'm also joined by my Dispatch colleagues, Mike Warren, our politics editor, and John McCormick, senior editor. Let's dive right in. [upbeat music] Hey, everybody. Before we get started today, I just want everybody to know from the get-go that I should be particularly good on this podcast today because Steve Hayes 1:16 I woke up with an eighty-five readiness score on my Oura Ring. So I sh-- this should be top performance for me. It probably won't be, but the fact that I check my Oura Ring is something I would never have guessed when I got it as a gift this past Christmas from my wife. Don't think of myself as a wearables person. I certainly have not religiously tracked my health information very carefully, as one glimpse at me can tell you. Kyla Scanlon 1:42 [chuckles] Steve Hayes 1:42 But I'm, I'm all in now, and I check my Oura Ring scores throughout the day, and I'm-- I've become a little bit of an obsessive. And Kyla, according to your most recent Dispatch Markets newsletter for us, a lot of other people are doing the same. Wearables is certainly a major trend, however we wanna define wearables. So first of all, welcome. We're very happy to have you. And second, can you tell us a bit about your newsletter from last week and what inspired you to write about wearables? Kyla Scanlon 2:19 Yeah. I mean, as I sort of talked about in the intro, similar to you, I have a Garmin watch that tracks everything, and I actually had to take it off for a little bit because I was getting a little too into the data and into my sleep score- Interactive transcripts are available to Premium members. Join to follow along with the audio. Join Now More We Think You’d Like