I’ll start by saying, I haven’t worn my Apple Watch in about two weeks. There was no big decision when I stopped wearing it, but I’ve noticed that over the past month or so, I would just be less bothered about wearing it. So much so, the tan line on my wrist has near-enough disappeared.
I know it was about two weeks because that’s when my heart rate data has ended on the Health app. But it occurred regularly before that, where I would wake up and instantly grab my phone and watch. But I would sit down with a coffee, put my phone and my watch both on the side, and never pay any attention to my watch until it was time to put it on charge again.
My original lack of interest with the watch started I think when I wasn’t going to work. Because that’s probably the only time that I felt I needed constant access to everything. Whether it’s the time, the weather, access to music that’s playing from a device just in my pocket, or all the notifications that I would instantly dismiss.
Now when I think about what I can actually gain from the Apple Watch, I’m not sure if I’m ever really going to wear it regularly again.
Here is a list of all the things I’ve ever done with an Apple Watch:
- Get the time.
- Pause/Play/Skip music/podcast.
- Track a workout. (Not a real workout, just small walks)
- Checked the weather. (Not that it matters to me that much, my outfit doesn’t change all year-round)
- Tracked my sleep. (It didn’t take long for this to stop)
- Played a game called Field Day for a while.
- Triggered a few interactions with Pokémon GO.
- Checked football scores.
And that’s about all I’ve ever done.
Now for what I use my watch for, just before I started to not wear it as often:
- Get the time.
I’m starting to think I don’t need a smart watch anymore.
No music/podcasts are being controlled on the watch anymore, because I have AirPods that can do that. I don’t track workouts because they were never real workouts anyway. I don’t play Field Day or Pokémon GO anymore. And if I want to check anything like the weather, football scores, text messages, I just take my phone out of my pocket.
I’ve started to actually like not having my wrist being the interface between myself and the internet. And I’ve grown tired about being notified about things that I just don’t care about.
Maybe I’ll eventually put my watch back on charge and then I can see if there is any remaining use for it. But for now I’ll be keeping it off. Maybe I’ll even think about buying an analogue watch.