I fell in love with smartwatches when I got my hands on the first-generation Moto 360, a beautifully designed smartwatch that runs Google’s first smartwatch operating system. Since then, I’ve tested and reviewed more than a dozen wearable fitness devices, including the Apple Watch SE and the Amazfit GTR and GTS series. And over time I started to absolutely dislike the product segment.
I gave up on smartwatches a few months ago, and this is why I won’t be back anytime soon (unless it’s for review purposes).
Data, data and more data
Joe Maring/Digital Trends
I used to wear my smartwatch to sleep. And my daily routine after waking up was to check how many hours of deep sleep I had. The habit sucked me first into the smartwatch, and then into the app. I would barely wake up and immediately be bombarded with data: light sleep, deep sleep, REM and what not.
And once that was done, I got used to checking more fitness data, like the number of steps I walked the day before and how many calories I burned. In the first 20 minutes of the day, I was already drawn to the screen.
Joe Maring/Digital Trends
As if that wasn’t enough, every time I raised my wrist to check the time, I was once again faced with information overload. Raise your wrist to check the time? These are the miles you walked today. Did you end the day without much walking? Oh, here’s a notification about how you missed the mark. Are you working to close those circles of activity? Here’s a badge for you.
Wearing a smartwatch is throwing data in your face. And most of the time you don’t know what to do with that data.
Smartwatches can help some people stay fit or get in shape, but wearing a ring or sharing my fitness data with friends doesn’t motivate me to exercise more. In fact, I would get more and more irritated every time I saw one of my friends closing her rings while I was sitting there eating a big bite of pizza.
I don’t want to always be available for the gadget.
Joe Maring/Digital Trends
Smartwatches are designed to be available when you need them, not the other way around. I have noticed that the opposite happens to me.
Are you in a meeting and receive a notification? Here, let me move to the right to drop it. Hanging out with friends and getting pinged on the wrist? It’s your boss and he wants that task to be finished tomorrow. Have dinner with the family and receive an unwanted call? Easy. Touch the red icon to finish it.
There are two patterns here. First, not all notifications are time sensitive. In fact, I will say that most of the notifications you receive on your smartwatch are not time sensitive. Notifications can wait. You basically look at them on your wrist and wipe them off. Number two, these notifications prevent you from living life in the present moment.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
When I have dinner with Mom and Dad, I don’t want my wrists to buzz. Let me eat in peace. Allowing me to hang out with friends without having to be constantly connected to the virtual world after work. Let me stay tuned in a meeting without being interrupted every few minutes.
It may sound cliché, but I really want people to be present in what they are doing in the moment, without being distracted by a little device whirring on their wrist. For me, one in 10 notifications may be urgent and require my attention. In an effort not to miss that notification, I exposed myself to nine useless notifications that distracted me from what I was doing in real life.
You can always use your smartwatch and turn off notifications. But did you really buy a smartwatch to do that? A fitness band would suffice.
Live a stress free life
With such drawbacks, it was only natural for me to get frustrated and give up on the form factor. I switched to the old G-Shock and Tissots of the world. I no longer have to wait a split second when I raise my wrist to see the time. When I want to check the date, I only look at the information I need, not the information the watch wants to give me.
Now, my watch works for me, and it should. In a data-hungry world where we want to track every calorie we consume and every step we take, sometimes it’s wise to take a step back and consider our options. Are you always available for your smartwatch or is it always available for you? If it’s the former, you know it’s time to take a break from all the metrics and get out your stupid watch, just like I did.
There is something liberating about not being a slave to data. I am no longer in a hurry to close the rings. I don’t have to keep track of every calorie I eat. I don’t care how deep I sleep. But at the same time, I live a healthier life because the stress of data on my wrist is no longer competing for space in my mind. I live a happier life and can be thankful for not having a smartwatch on my wrist.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn