A Viral Chinese Wristband Claims to Zap You Awake. The Public Says ‘No Thanks’

Forget coffee, you can now stay alert by strapping on a wristband that lightly zaps you awake. That’s what eCoffee Energyband, a Chinese gadget that sells for just over $100, is claiming to do.

First released in late 2023, the product is a lightweight wearable with two electrode pads that sit against the inner wrist. WAT Medical, a Canadian company with a Chinese subsidiary making and marketing the device, claims the mild electrical signals sent by the wristband can keep wearers alert by stimulating nerves in the brain. The effect is supposedly about the same as a cup of coffee, minus the risk of caffeine addiction. The only side effect is that your hand could feel numb from the tip of the finger to the inner wrist, the company says, so the makers suggest that it only be worn for three hours a day, and users can switch which wrists they put it on.

The gadget would likely have stayed in relative obscurity if the company that makes it had not attended a recent Chinese trade show, whereafter it suddenly went viral. “The purpose of inventing this eCoffee Energyband is not to replace coffee. Coffee is great, but it’s not always suitable for the afternoon or evening. But we still have the need to feel refreshed during those times,” Xu Haojie, the company’s director of operations, told Chinese state media Xinhua at the trade show. After wearing it, the Xinhua reporter said, “It feels like I’m being gently tapped. I can feel the electric pulse.”

It immediately became a sensation online. On Chinese ecommerce websites, including JD and Taobao, the device appears to be sold out as of now, with hundreds of mixed reviews from buyers. The device is also sold and shipped to markets around the world. The website lists its normal price at $130, with a holiday promotion going on right now that knocks 30 percent off the price.

But on Chinese social media, the wristband has been met with overwhelming sarcasm and skepticism.

The company’s marketing frames eCoffee as a productivity booster, a tool for getting more study and work done. But that message has struck a chord with Chinese people’s resentment
toward “996” culture, the local variant of the grind culture. The young generation in China is increasingly recoiling from workplace burnout. Snarky commentators online called the wristband everything from a portable electric chair to the human version of dog-training e-collars and livestock whips, emphasizing how it benefits the managerial class against the will of the working class.