Posted on 07/07/2015 4:38:41 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Sometimes, in order to truly appreciate life with modern day conveniences, we have to be reminded of what life was like before them. As an experiment for the last week, I decided to live without the thoroughly modern convenience of the Apple Watch. I was lucky enough to be included in the first group of folks outside of Apple to get an Apple Watch. I’ve been wearing the watch all day, every day since April 1st. Here, I shared my thoughts after my first week. Since April 1st, I have deeply integrated the Apple Watch into my everyday life. I decided to run an experiment and see what a week would be like without the Watch after 85 days of living with it. This is what I learned.
The first thing I noticed was my heightened awareness of where my iPhone was at all times. One of my observations from my first week with the Apple Watch was how it untethered me from my iPhone in a positive way. Whether it was in my pocket or on the coffee table or near the front door, the Watch allowed me not to worry about my iPhone needing to be with me at all times to remain connected. Life without the Watch reminded me of the habits I developed to make sure my phone was always near me. I would make sure to always put it in my pocket as I moved around the house or carry it with me from room to room.
This behavior is a result of wanting, and sometimes needing, to respond whenever I get a buzz or ding of a notification, whether it is an email alert, text message, or something else. I don’t like the idea of missing something important and this led me to be much more aware of where my iPhone was when I was not wearing the Apple Watch.
One of the ways I integrated the Apple Watch into my life was to heavily filter what notifications I allowed to buzz me on the wrist — voice calls, VIP emails, text messages, and only a handful of apps which push me useful information. However on the iPhone, even though I limit the notifications, all of them are treated equally and my phone was constantly buzzing telling me I had a notification. Of course, I check it to see if it is important and needed an immediate response. I had forgotten how much I had to pick up and check my iPhone prior to the Apple Watch. I’d prefer the luxury of reaching for my phone when necessary. Apple Watch helped me achieve this.
iMessage notifications were the worst of the bunch. The vast majority of my daily conversations are via iMessage. Prior to the Apple Watch, this would not have bothered me, but the first few days without it and I was irritated by how often I’d get a buzz of a message, reply to it, put my phone down or in my pocket, get another buzz a minute or two later, reply, put my phone down, get a response a few minutes later, reply, put my phone back down, ad infinitum. For the first few days, this really bothered me because a text message conversation is not always one that happens in real time. Sometimes it takes the other person time to reply. I’d rather not stare at my iPhone screen continuously waiting for the person to respond as I find it inefficient and a waste of time. So I put the phone down or in my pocket between messages and continue what I’m doing. The constant pick up, reply, put down sequence frustrated me. With Apple Watch, this process is seamless. Notifications come in reply from the Watch with text or Siri voice dictation and I keep doing what I’m doing. Living without the Apple Watch for a week showed me how much I took this one experience for granted before the Apple Watch. This was the most frustrating part of living without the Apple Watch because of how much I use iMessage to have conversations throughout the day.
When I told people about my experiment, many were curious if I used my phone less as a result. For a few weeks prior to this experiment, I had been using an app called Moment, which tracks your iPhone usage each day and how many times you pick the phone up, turn the screen on and look at it. While I didn’t see my iPhone usage in terms of hours per day decline during the week without the Apple Watch, I did see a significant drop in the number of times I looked at it. The average number of times I picked up and looked at my phone my last week with the Apple Watch was 74. This last week without the Apple Watch my average number of daily pickups was 102. I charted it to see the difference.
When I had the Apple Watch on, I averaged 28 fewer times I looked at my iPhone each day. This is a good proxy of how notifications on the watch help minimize the number of times I need to look at my phone to see the nature of each notification.
After reflecting on what looking at my phone fewer times meant in my daily life, I concluded the experience was less disruptive. Don’t get me wrong — I love my iPhone. It is my primary computer. However, having to respond to your phone or pull it out of your pocket or bag for each phone call or text message turns out to be fairly disruptive. As I’ve observed my wife’s behavior as well with her Apple Watch, she articulates similar feelings. As she is out and about, not having to fumble through her purse each time her phone dings is a less disruptive experience in many daily situations. Particularly since not all notifications are important or in need of an immediate response. However, without the use of the Apple Watch, you would not know this without getting your phone out and looking at it. This is an area of immense value that can only be understood once experienced.
Interestingly, the same sentiment is noticed by other Apple Watch wearers. I’m working with a company doing research on existing Apple Watch owners called Wristly (if you have an Apple Watch please consider joining our panel) where 32% of respondents said they spend much less time on their iPhone and 58% indicated they use their iPhone somewhat less.
So what did I conclude? As I pointed to at the beginning of this article, the Apple Watch is a modern day convenience and should be understood as such. It is a convenience in the same way a dishwasher or washer/dryer or a microwave is. None of the items are absolutely necessary, yet so many of their owners can’t imagine life without one. This is what my week without the Apple Watch taught me. Of course I can get by without it but, given the number of conveniences I’ve been able to quantify in the flow of my daily life, I can no longer imagine life without it.
I had to wear a watch on my job for 25 years. The day I retired, I threw the watch away, and haven’t used one since.
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I need a cell phone for work ,, I used to be a network tech for the first cell phone company in the US ... when 5pm hits and all day on the weekends THE PHONE IS OFF...
These people that allow themselves to constantly be at everyone elses beck and call 24*7*365 are unbelievably entertaining as they require that level of interaction and attachment to feel necessary and important. Kind of like those people that can never let a conversation end ..
And this Royal "we" knows this how? And how do you know that $4 billion in profits on $10 Billion in sales is somehow break even on the development costs? You have no clue what you are talking about. Don't worry, your standing in the Anti-Apple Hate Brigade is still good until next month.
He has transferred his addiction from the phone to the watch? Hilarious. And Apple is laughing all the way to the bank.
Sounds as if you did not even bother to read the article.
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That’s what your “looky look at iPhone” chart says ... you cut back xx% looking at phone and now look at watch instead ...
P.S. Why call it a watch when it’s terrible at that function compared to a real watch. Why not just call it bluetooth with a wristband? The divers watch photo posted is far better as a watch than an apple watchman will ever be... 5 years battery life vs. 1.5 days ,, waterproof .. and for apple fanboies you lose NO functionality with a real watch and an iPhone vs iPhone and iWatch...
Seriously, get laid. Apple is just a company with products.
You know damned well who. And you also know that making $150 net watch ain’t gonna go very far.
The oracles have spoken. The research has been done. According to your “math” 10 million sales is a success. It’s a good thing you aren’t into investments or any authority of a major corporation, because spending $4B developing a $1B product is what we in realityland consider a disaster.
You keep defending a conservative bashing pro bigoted commie flag waving company on a conservative forum with lies. What’s your angle there chief???
I was a Correction Officer. We weren’t allowed to have cell phones inside. Supposedly they messed with the radio channels we used.
Or, you could just stop frittering your day away with countless useless messages.
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You just don’t feel as special if you don’t post a picture of your morning egg mcmuffin from your iSwatch... I think people are starting to tire of the “look at me I buy Apple, aren’t I special!!!” crowd... There stuff is good but not THAT good.
Apple is the Starbucks of technology.
Once the nostalgia wears off, what you are left with is a room full of self-elevating, self-absorbed progressives paying twice as much for a simple, basic cup of coffee.
Hannum was right. There’s a sucker born every minute.
Who claims it's terrible at that function of being a watch. No one that i know. . . and mine works great as a time piece. Quite accurate and easily read. You are just spouting FUD you've heard from others who don't use an Apple Watch. I use mine daily and it is not a problem to use as a time piece. You don't have a clue what you are talking nonsense about. I am not planning to go diving with my Apple watch on. i have a dive watch for that.
I charge my watch while I sleep and don't wear a watch while I sleep. if I want to see what time is on the watch in the middle of the night it's right next to me on the night stand. SHEESH!
You anti-Apple Hate brigade members love to post your ignorance for all to see. . . ignorance that is based on the ignorance of all the other ignorant Apple hater's postings. You guys are an echo chamber of ignorant anti-Apple misinformation and hate.
Who claims it’s terrible at that function of being a watch. No one that i know. . . and mine works great as a time piece. Quite accurate and easily read.
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For the (under) 2 days that it runs without needing servicing (recharging)I’m sure that it is adequate but what if you get all the way to day 3... it shut down over a day earlier... My Citizen EcoDrive watch has gone 5+ years without needing any maintenance and will run until it eventually dies of old age without ever needing a battery.
You have forgotten your own initial admonition on these very pages to never think of the iWatch as a watch because it SUCKS as a watch... it is merely an iPhone bluetooth extension.
You need to put down the electronic equivalent of crack and take a weekend off with no way for others to reach into and control your life , turn off the Dick Tracy gadgetry ... Be a MAN ,, not someone’s errand boy with an GSM leash waiting to be yanked. You should get a girlfriend... or a hobby...
Seriously, get laid. Apple is just a company with products.
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Bears repeating...
I doubt you have a degree in econ and are most likely no CEO. That much is clear. Otherwise you would be checking your math before pontificating.
2.5 million x 150 = $375 million. Nice try there “genius”.
That’s $1.5 billion in sales on the FIRST DAY. . . and you think they will only sell $1 billion total?
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Sales are not profits... They’ve already shot their wad with the losers that had to have the very first one... now they need a generation 2 iWatch at a lower price point to see if they can reel in the stragglers. By Christmas they’ll be giving away iWatches bundled with iPhones at the AT&T stores just to fake some sales momentum.
And all your Citizen EcoDrive watch does is tell time. Nothing more. It is not even as accurate as the Apple Watch over a years time. Your definition of "servicing" is another "straw man" argument of your own invention. Sorry I don't need to argue that point because I don't run my watch down to nothing. No one does.
You have forgotten your own initial admonition on these very pages to never think of the iWatch as a watch because it SUCKS as a watch... it is merely an iPhone bluetooth extension.
I have never cited that. What I have stated is that it is MORE than a watch. Your claim that I have makes you again a liar, putting words into my mouth I have never said. . . another favorite tactic of the anti-Apple hate Brigade propagandists and their lies.
Next you take the other typical tack of an ad hominem attack, implying that I am the same as a drug addict with your next denigration of my life and also slurring my maturity level. You are being an asshat as usual, Neidermeyer, slinging insults and innuendo. Doing so shows you have no facts to back your ignorance. Personal attack is the refuge of the man with no facts to back him up. You use them freely and often.
Mine tests sat to 150 ft. It says it can go deeper but I better not. Its been a part of me for almost 2 decades. I should have it serviced.
My sex life is fine, and my girlfriend is quite beautiful and happy. You guys are both asshats to insert yourself into another Freepers private life in an ad hominem attack. Just more proof you have no evidence to back your positions. . . just innuendo and lies, and personal insults.
Sooooooo....
I get it now....
Without the watch, he was previously chained to his I-phone, but now!
He can walk around a bit..
:-)
Not the real reason. Totally different radio bands. The real reason is the administrators were afraid the prisoners would get their hands on one.
You’re an asshat for injecting Apple advertising into FR 24x7, a non-techie website for the restoration of the founding freedom of THIS country. Apple represents foreign interests and you abuse the privilege of being here.
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