Are We Overmedicated? Hardtech Has An Answer
Pills pills pills… We seem to be consuming a lot of them. Whether for a health concern unregulated a generation ago, or our health has deteriorated to a point our bodies need additives to function at the highest level, we’re taking in more medications than ever before. And hardtech has supported this consumer trend.
So, exactly how many pills/drugs are we taking? According to the CDC, our consumption of drug use has increased tremendously in the last forty years. 20% more adults are taking at least one drug daily, while 280% more adults are taking five or more pills daily. Bloomberg famously reported that almost 1 in 2 American adults is taking a prescription drug. The question is obvious, are we overdosing?
And whether you agree or disagree if we are over-consuming medications, hardtech is supporting the culture. We now make machines that will count, and provide you with the exact cocktail mix of drugs you need, so you don’t have to review bottle-by-bottle, day-by-day or even hour-by-hour, your medication consumption.

Products like Hero Health’s Pill Dispenser and MedaCube’s automated dispenser have become popular. MedaCube, countertop-size, holds and dispenses up to 16 medications with a 90-day supply. Its touchscreen makes it easy to read directions and adjust dosages. Marketed to caregivers, it was not long ago that we would see this hardtech on the market and immediately think of our elders. But today, it could easily be a young-family home appliance. Mia needs her anti-anxiety, Logan has ADHD, and Mom and Dad pop pills for everything from depression to hair loss. Hero is a bit less of a pharmacy, and marketed a bit more as a tech-medicine-cabinet. Helpful for the family to keep everyone’s prescriptions straight. It’s incorporated with an App. to let you know when each dose is ready.

More is being developed to fill this market. Hardtech is created to organize and assist our culture taking billions of dollars worth of medications. MIT and Georgia Tech have worked on solutions. Amazon is all over this. It’s not going away. In fact, hardtech is catching up.
So, what’s next? Are we going to make backpacks and purses with inset pouches for pills? Will a matching set of fashionable accessories become the norm, including a wallet, business card holder, and medication vessel? Business goes where the money is. Hardtech will continue to develop to keep up with our pill-popping ways. This sub-industry will only tack onto and grow more with our addictions and needs.

Perhaps we look around and see hardtech simplifying our ever-complicated lives. We’re lucky to have prescriptions to heal almost every ailment and tech to organize and aid us in taking these life-changing drugs. But we also should see the fallout of potentially overmedicating ourselves. We literally have machines that count our drugs for us, that’s how much we are medicated. It begs the question if these tech solutions simplify our lives or point to how complex we have become mentally, physically, and chemically.