5 Tech Products That May Improve Your Quality Of Life

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When we talk about tech and the impact it has on people's lives, we tend towards the negative. Impulsive phone usage, long hours sat at a computer desk with poor posture, and eyes fatigued by staring into screens for hours — just to name a few. Sadly, it seems like rather than sci-fi gadgets making life so much easier, sci-fi writers correctly predicted that cool technology often ends up being more problematic than beneficial. Today, we'd like to look at the bright side a little bit. Situations where technology really does make your life better, perhaps measurably so, to the point where maybe you can't go back to not having that tech in your life.

All of this will be based on personal experience and opinion, not necessarily cold, hard evidence that proves that these things will change your life. Take it all with a grain of salt, use what works and ignore the rest. Including these tech products in my life has made things better, and I hope at least one of them does the same for you.

Noise pollution exposes you to loud sounds in urban settings for hours, every day, and literally takes away your sense of hearing. The solution isn't becoming a hermit to protect your ears. The solution is Loops. Loops makes a series of earplugs that either completely or partially block out sound, depending on the situation and how present you want to be.

The magic happens with their Experience and Engage plugs, which allow enough sound to, respectively, enjoy loud music or conversation in loud places, without risking your hearing. According to Loop Earplugs, the company uses an ingenious proprietary design that passes sound through a loop (hence the name) and cleans it up with an acoustic filter to only leave frequencies that don't hurt your ears or sound artificial. I've owned multiple pairs of Loops, and they earn five stars for the execution of this tech. Their best product is the Loop Switch 3-in-1, which lets me instantly swap between Experience, Engage, and Quiet modes without removing the earplugs. Thanks to Loops, I've been able to more comfortably participate in social activities in loud places.

Comfort is the second area where Loops earns flying colors. I have never used a pair of earplugs this easy to insert into my ears. You can wear them for hours, possibly even forget they're there. They're also less conspicuous, especially with the right color. If you want complete quiet where the earplugs block as much sound as physically possible, Loops still makes industry-leading earplugs. The Loops Quiet 2 is rated at 24 decibels of noise reduction, and based on my experience, it blocks a shocking amount of noise compared to normal earplugs. Loops are also at the top of our list for the highest-rated smart earplugs for sleep.

I remember my first experience using quality active noise-canceling headphones for the first time. I put on a pair of Sony WH1000-XM3 headphones just out of curiosity when I was in a crowded shop, and the sound around me all but vanished. My jaw legitimately dropped. The XM3 was a life-changing pair of headphones for me, and today I happily use the WH1000-XM6. I'm able to listen to music at much safer volumes when in loud places — another win in the war against noise pollution — and get on-demand focus when in a place with loud ambient noise. I've been able to get so much work done over the years when the ambient sound was against me, thanks to the WH1000-XM-series family.

Unfortunately, the best active noise cancellation tends to be on the pricier side. In my humble opinion, budget noise-canceling earbuds tech simply doesn't compare to the industry-leading stuff from Sony, Bose, and others. Having said that, you can buy top-of-the-line active noise-cancelling headphones from previous generations — which do great — for cheaper. Sony's excellent WH-1000XM4 has gone on sale used on Amazon for as low as $18. AirPods Pro 2, some of the best Bluetooth earbuds I've ever laid my hands upon, can also go brand-new for around $130 on Ebay.

Before you buy, make sure you're aware of some of the myths concerning noise-canceling headphones. Active noise-canceling and passive noise-canceling are not the same thing. Often, manufacturers play fast and loose with the distinction.

Most of us are aware of how much we use our smartphones to fill in those idle minutes throughout the day. Five minutes on Instagram here, ten minutes on TikTok there. It adds up, and I think most people these days would much rather do something meaningful with that time. The Xteink X4 could be the key to finally achieving that vaunted goal of "reading more." Unlike the phone-sized BooksPalma eReader and its alternatives, the X4 is not a smartphone; It's simply an ultra portable, pocket-sized Kindle at $69.

I've only owned this thing for about a month, at the time of writing, and in those random, daily five-to-ten minute spurts I've almost finished a full-length novel. Anytime you might whip out your phone for some mindless doom-scrolling, take out your X4 instead. You get used to reading on such a small screen pretty fast, and the insanely small form factor means you have few excuses not to bring it any time you leave the house. It's literally so small that it can magnetically attach to the back of some phones. Oh, and it is utterly lacking Amazon's Kindle restrictions.

To be fair, the X4 is not perfect. The backlight is sorely missed, and the software is still in need of some work; Some redditors on the X4 subreddit have even resorted to installing a custom OS and manually changing the format of every e-book. You'll want to be sure to buy the device from the official store so you get the English firmware, since the Chinese firmware is updated separately and may not always have the best support. Even with those caveats, this is a 5-star device that could make that reading habit actually happen.

We've already talked about how an Apple Watch could do wonders for your health and fitness, and it really has improved my quality of life. Post Apple Watch, I always know exactly how much sleep I get at night, if my workouts are intense enough, if my resting heart rate is high enough, and so on. It's one of the few Apple devices that does virtually everything you could want it to, and doesn't feel heinously overpriced — at least if you go with the SE.

I want to be clear that you don't need an Apple Watch-branded device, specifically. Apple Watches are beloved by smart-wearable users, but there are plenty of budget-friendly smartwatches to choose instead. If you just want heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, phone notifications, and long battery life,then you don't need an Apple Watch. FitBits were dominating the smartwatch space before the Apple Watch, after all.

I'll concede that there are solid arguments against adding more unnecessarily intrusive and distracting tech products to your life, and you'd be better off with a good ol' analog wristwatch. And yeah, smartwatches do collect a ton of data on you — especially sensitive health data — so that's a consideration to make before buying. However, this is an article about tech products that have a positive influence. A smartwatch can absolutely do that, in my personal experience, and I know lots of people out there would agree with me.

Anyone who works at a desk all day — work-from-home crowd, represent — knows how desperate you can start to get for standing activities, and how you can end up investing hundreds of dollars in comfortable chairs and cushions that only mitigate the issue. The benefits of standing desks go beyond remote workers. Even if you don't work from home, I'd argue that this is well worth your money. Thankfully, there's a flourishing market of affordable standing desks that look stylish, and can adjust desk height with the press of a button. Good standing desks sometimes go for sub-$100, like this 32" Electric Standing Desk. Think of it as an investment for your health, and it'll seem like a screaming deal.

In my experience using a standing desk for years, it's not all sunshine and daisies. One, you're going to be stuck with a pretty small slab of wood unless you spend more for the larger standing desk form factors — or get a standing desk converter. Second, you'll have to baby your desk, weight-wise, especially on those smaller, cheaper models. A computer tower, in my experience, is a no-go, as may be a large-ish monitor, dual-monitor setup, and/or larger desktop speakers. Trust me, you'll feel that little electric motor fighting for its life when raising up a heavier load.

All things considered, though, a standing desk makes you appreciate sitting a lot more, since after standing for a couple of hours you're dying for even the unloving embrace of a hard-backed chair. It also forces you to improve your posture. Lastly, I'd argue that the limited desktop space inadvertently forces you to reduce clutter, maintaining a clean, minimalist setup with only the essentials.