Half Our Gadgets Are Solving Problems Created by Our Other Gadgets

​In an interview with Motherboard about her company's secure pho​ne case that encrypts all of your phone's texts, photos, and phone calls, Vysk's vice president of marketing said: "You have to use technology to fight technology."

That seemed to be a common philosophy at this year's Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, with new innovations promising to solve all that ails you, from the cigarettes polluting you​r lungs to the visible po​res on the bridge of your nose. But ironically, many of the problems these new gadgets solve wouldn't even exist if it weren't for the gadgets that preceded them.

Take for example the multitude of sleep trackers and aids available at the show. There were monitors that track your every mo​vement as you sleep and offer advice for how to sleep better. There was a smart light that adjus​ts automatically by analyzing your sleep patterns, winding you down with soft lighting at night and simulating a sunrise to wake you while at your lightest point in the sleep cycle in the morning.

There was even a smart matt​ress that monitored your sleep cycle and adjusted to make the bed more comfy.​

But multiple studies have confirmed that we would all sleep better if it weren't for one nasty habit: staring at our screens right up until the moment we attempt to catch some zzz's. According to the National Sleep Found​ation, 95 percent of us use some kind of electronic at least a few nights a week within the hour before we go to bed. Research shows the light projected squarely into our faceholes at night—be it from a laptop, tablet, TV, or smartphone—lowers our me​latonin, leading to lighte​r, shorter, unrestful sleep.

Rather than adding a sleep-tracking app to our phone and strapping another device to our body, we could try unplugging for a ​bit before bed to solve our sleep epidemic.

Aside from not getting enough sleep, another big worry is the fact that sitting all the time is slowly kill​ing us. From our desk jobs where we slouch hypnotized in front of Macbooks all day, to the cramped car or subway on the commute home, to our evenings where we droop on our sofas to unwind with a movie or game, we're on our asses an awful lot and it's not what evolution i​ntended.

Of course, the logical, simple solution to this is to get up and move around. But the tech-slave solution is to invent some more tech to counteract the effects of the tech we're already addicted to.

Garmin, for example, released its latest fitness ba​nd at CES with a new feature: an inactivity tracker with an audible alert to remind you that you've been sitting on your butt all damn day. And Tao Wellness, a fitness tech company from Reno, was showing off its armchair ​gym: a chair with maneuverable components intended for you to sort of, kind of workout while sitting down, that also tracks your calories burned. There were also more wearable fitness ba​nds than you could stack on both arms, in an attempt to make the motivation to get moving easier and more fun. While fitness apps and tech can definitely encourage people to get active, they're not necessary and are another example of trying to cure tech with tech.

Even virtual reality gear—which was one of the biggest trends for the show this year—was aiming to providing a remedy… for itself. Ever since VR's first debut, it has constantly struggled with the fact that, while very cool and futuristic, it made peop​le throw up. This year, VR heavy-hitter Oculus debuted its next generation goggles and CEO Brendan Iribe​ said the company had finally advanced the technology enough to squash out the nausea and motion sickness earlier iterations caused. A problem that could also be solved by just not using virtual reality devices (although, admittedly, nobody wants a future with no VR).

Technology advancements can be truly amazing and new innovations are constantly changing the world around us and improving our lives. But when it comes to the problems caused by the gadgets we love so dearly, maybe the antidote isn't more technology. For once, maybe we don't need to use technology to fight technology. Maybe we should just go outside for a bit.