The face is becoming a platform.

Not a product category… a battleground for presence, privacy and persuasion.
We moved computing from buildings to home desks to laptops to pockets to wrists…
And now the interface is coming for your gaze.

Is this (finally) the real battle for your eyes?

Meta’s new Ray-Ban Display glasses add a private pane of information and a public-facing lens.
Apple seems to be re-routing from a heavy science project (Apple Vision Pro) to lighter, everyday eyewear.
Everyone else is circling the same prize… eyes, ears, wrist… one seamless loop of attention.

This isn’t about gadgets.

It’s about norms…
Attention norms… consent norms… presence norms.

Because once tech sits on your face, etiquette also becomes infrastructure.

The new UX isn’t just software… it’s social behavior.
Here’s the first fracture… capture vs. counsel.
Outward capture is the camera pointed at the world… the watcher’s instinct.
Inward counsel is the quiet companion… the information that guides without intruding.
If designers can’t split those modes cleanly… visible to everyone in the room… we’ll default to suspicion and weird new social norms.

Have you felt that spike already?

I have.
I recently ran into a friend wearing smart shades… and I found myself pausing mid-sentence to ask if I was being recorded.
That’s not luddism… that’s was me being unsure (in public) about the boundaries between presence and surveillance.

Social friction isn’t hypothetical.

Imagine a bar.
A friend nodding while silently scrolling in their eyewear.
We tolerated phones on tables because we could see them.
Invisible screens collapse the tell.
We can’t tell if you’re with us… or with the feed.
Scrolling my LinkedIn profile.
Messaging someone else.
Recording the moment.
Or whispering to AI for something smart to say.

With that… some of the real-world utility is undeniable.

Hands on the wheel, eyes forward, voice for navigation… glanceable instructions without the dashboard shuffle.
Accessibility that describes a room, reads a label, names a color… a genuine upgrade to human freedom.
When it works like that, it feels less like another social media influencer recording everything and more like an assistive layer.

Strategy also matters here.

Meta doesn’t have a phone.
Glasses are their side door into mobile.
Make them stylish… make them social… make the camera the trojan horse for an assistant that lives on your face.
Apple plays a different game… extend the halo of their iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods… close the loop so your eyes join the ecosystem.
The rest of us decide which one we’re building into our own culture.

Leaders shouldn’t just see the deeper shift… they should codify it.

Because when technology outpaces etiquette, leadership has to write the social operating manual.
Wearables promise to free us from the rectangle in our pockets… but the rectangle became the ritual.
A visible boundary… a signal we could negotiate.
Face-mounted tech erases the boundary and asks culture to backfill it with new rules.

So it looks like we may need to write the new rules.

Consent-forward by default… bright, immutable recording indicators you can’t cover with a sticker.
Clear social modes… capture vs. counsel… with external cues anyone can read.
No-glasses zones in meetings where candor matters more than convenience.
Procurement guidelines that privilege accessibility and safety over novelty.
Etiquette you can explain to a guest in ten seconds without a FAQ.

And then ask a harder question… not “will this go mass market,” but “what happens to trust when everyone’s gaze might be instrumented?”

We already live in cities where cameras are ambient (and hello, surveillance capitalism).
The bet from Silicon Valley is simple: reduce friction and you’ll increase life.
Still, I believe that tools this intimate demand a higher bar.
Not just for privacy… for presence.
Not just for features… for shared ground rules.

Because if your eyes become an API… your gaze a user interface… your presence a maybe…
Why should anyone trust what you say… if they can’t see that you’re here?

This is what Elias Makos and I discussed on CJAD 800 AM.

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