Panic Meter

Anxiety relief in an anxiety-shaped package

Before March 2020, few Americans had ever seen or heard of this device, which resembles a high-tech pencil sharpener or a low-tech personal robot assistant. Online forums sprang up just to discuss the correct pronunciation of “pulse oximeter.” Those who had previously been blissfully unaware of their blood oxygen level were now given a technology that allowed them to know far more about their lung function than their brain could handle. Monitoring obsessively and tracking compulsively became the newest form of “self-care.”  Turns out, for the 21st century American, there was nothing more complicated than breathing.