My Apple Watch and Why I Don't Miss It

I was among the first users of the shiny new Apple Watch when it was released.  My pre-order was successfully entered a few hours after it opened so it took a few weeks before mine arrived.  Since then I've blogged about it with some regularity.

Initial thoughts were quite positive.  I especially liked how I could tailor the notifications to the watch.  My phone would buzz constantly with emails, work emails, and text messages.  If it buzzed at my watch I knew it was important.  Finally, I could set my phone down and forget about it.

The exercise tracking was nice as well.  An always on way to track everything you do.  The results surprised me.  Some of the things I did that wiped me out (snow shoveling) actually didn't burn a massive amount of calories like I thought it did.  However, the simple acts of walking around and doing little tasks like washing the dishes after dinner burned more than I thought.  Really informative.

Then, something happened.

Reports the first version of the watch had an issue with the battery expanding, enlarging, over time resulted in Apple raising the warranty from 1 year to 3.  The battery would get so large it would pop the device apart, never at a convenient time.

At 3 and a half years my watch flew apart during a workout.  That was about 4 months ago and I haven't worn it since.

I don't miss it.

The benefits have mostly run their course and the drawbacks I hadn't really identified while I was wearing it have at last been revealed.

That 15 minute weightlifting workout that I stretched out to ensure I "got credit" for a workout by hitting the 15 minute mark?  Gone.  I do the same work in 10 minutes now.  I don't have to worry about recharging it, or ensuring it is always on so I "get credit" for whatever I'm doing.  I just do it.  If I go on a run I really want to track my times.  My phone is always present so I just use an app there.  It works.

I don't feel I need the Apple Watch any more and I don't really want it.  I do feel it helped me on my journey to get back in shape but that time has passed, I've learned from having its tracking on me all the time, but I no longer see incremental gains from continuing to wear it.

Here is a great little article from 2016 on smart watches, watches in general, and other options such as the little chronos smart attachment for traditional watches:

https://thenextweb.com/plugged/2016/08/24/an-amateur-watch-collectors-thoughts-on-smartwatches-after-wearing-one-for-a-month/

Here's one great little snippet from that piece:

Perhaps the most important factor in deciding whether a watch is worthy of gracing your wrist is whether you miss it when you’re not wearing it. While I found the Pebble to be handy and good at the things it can do, I didn’t mind switching it for one of my analog watches and not receiving notifications or replying to messages with it. Using my phone doesn’t take much longer, and I’m happy to be able to choose a watch that I enjoy looking at.

So the question then changes doesn't it?  Should you buy a smart watch?  Maybe, but not for the reasons you think. If you want to get really extravagant on your spending and buy one of the GPS fully wireless connected smart watches such as the newest Apple Watches then you'll see lots more benefit over my first edition.  That is exorbitantly expensive though and I don't think most people will go that route.  If you aren't really in tune with your body, your movements, your level of activity then pick one up and wear it for a year or two.  You'll learn a lot about yourself. Power users still have some gains to reap from smart watches with the notifications but you can get a lot of that by simple self control.  Limit your screen time.  Period.

Good luck and Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant