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I've never owned a smartwatch, but I can't think of another device that completely distracts users and breaks focus away from in-person conversations quite like

I've never owned a smartwatch, but I can't think of another device that completely distracts users and breaks focus away from in-person conversations quite like these do. Maybe I just notice it more than folks that just use phones, but every time I'm talking to someone who checks their watch while we're talking reinforces my decision not to purchase one. Sometimes I feel like I've teleported from another decade or something when complaining about the lack of digital etiquette in our society, but there's just no way I can justify buying another notification factory.

macintux 6y ago
I’ve found just the opposite. By tuning my Apple Watch notifications, I now only get the most important interruptions on it, and I can almost always tell what it is by the haptics. So my phone can buzz and beep all it wants, I can ignore it. My watch can buzz and depending on what’s going on around me, I can sneak a peek or disregard it. Furthermore, the watch is incapable of subsuming my attention like the phone. On a phone I have all of my usual distractions. My watch is too small to take me away from the people I’m with (as if that’s anything to worry about this year, sadly). The watch has liberated me from distractions when I’m among people. If the people you’re interacting with are being distracted, that’s their failing, not the watch’s.
- thewebcount 6y ago
  Yeah, this was my experience as well. My phone was pretty distracting, but I was really able to cut down on the notifications I got on the watch and they were only the important ones, so now I'm more engaged than I was previously.
shard 6y ago
Just wait until smart glasses finally take off! At least people can ignore their smart watches, it'll be hard to ignore a flashing icon in your field of view.
- save_ferris 6y ago
  That's very true. Philosophically, it's kinda hard to envision material gains in quality-of-life without major consequences with these kinds of technologies. They largely exist to take us out of our physical, in-person interactions because there's something more important to look at/respond to/whatever on the screen. Stuff like the Apple Watch and smart glasses definitely give me Black Mirror vibes a whole lot quicker than mobile technology ever did, but then again, Black Mirror came out after mobile had already largely taken off.
- canada_dry 6y ago
  A whole new subset of body language indicators - eye movement watching - will be part of dealing with AR users.
  - mhh__ 6y ago
    Maybe I'm a bit autistic but I already watch people's eyes quite a lot The only useful thing I ever learnt from my art teacher was when he taught us how to pretend to make eye contact with people.
  - xkcd-sucks 6y ago
    Haha you must be a man if you don't already pay attention to eye movement
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
tootie 6y ago
In-person conversations suffer a marginal decrease in attention. Remote communication improves by several orders of magnitude.
samatman 6y ago
Hmm. I'm a little older, it was engrained in me that looking at your watch when you're talking to someone is a clear and pretty rude signal that they're boring you, wasting your time, and that in general you'd like the conversation to be done. Like if I so much as glanced at my watch while talking to someone, I'd immediately say sorry and explain why I have to keep track of time. Having a smart watch has changed this in one way, which is if someone starts blowing up my notifications I'll say "sorry let me fix that" and turn it to silent. I don't have a good fix for conveying this etiquette to people who never got the message, but I'm with you: that's rude, people need to stop doing it. No need to blame the device though. I'm with everyone else who says that the notifications are way less distracting than they would be on a phone.
- elahieh 6y ago
  looking at your watch when you're talking to someone is a clear and pretty rude signal that they're boring you Yes, some people take that very seriously :-O https://youtu.be/8Aq5BUiruPg?t=2112 https://youtu.be/8Aq5BUiruPg?t=2112

macintux 6y ago

I’ve found just the opposite. By tuning my Apple Watch notifications, I now only get the most important interruptions on it, and I can almost always tell what it is by the haptics. So my phone can buzz and beep all it wants, I can ignore it. My watch can buzz and depending on what’s going on around me, I can sneak a peek or disregard it. Furthermore, the watch is incapable of subsuming my attention like the phone. On a phone I have all of my usual distractions. My watch is too small to take me away from the people I’m with (as if that’s anything to worry about this year, sadly). The watch has liberated me from distractions when I’m among people. If the people you’re interacting with are being distracted, that’s their failing, not the watch’s.

thewebcount 6y ago
Yeah, this was my experience as well. My phone was pretty distracting, but I was really able to cut down on the notifications I got on the watch and they were only the important ones, so now I'm more engaged than I was previously.

shard 6y ago

Just wait until smart glasses finally take off! At least people can ignore their smart watches, it'll be hard to ignore a flashing icon in your field of view.

save_ferris 6y ago
That's very true. Philosophically, it's kinda hard to envision material gains in quality-of-life without major consequences with these kinds of technologies. They largely exist to take us out of our physical, in-person interactions because there's something more important to look at/respond to/whatever on the screen. Stuff like the Apple Watch and smart glasses definitely give me Black Mirror vibes a whole lot quicker than mobile technology ever did, but then again, Black Mirror came out after mobile had already largely taken off.
canada_dry 6y ago
A whole new subset of body language indicators - eye movement watching - will be part of dealing with AR users.
- mhh__ 6y ago
  Maybe I'm a bit autistic but I already watch people's eyes quite a lot The only useful thing I ever learnt from my art teacher was when he taught us how to pretend to make eye contact with people.
- xkcd-sucks 6y ago
  Haha you must be a man if you don't already pay attention to eye movement

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

tootie 6y ago

In-person conversations suffer a marginal decrease in attention. Remote communication improves by several orders of magnitude.

samatman 6y ago

Hmm. I'm a little older, it was engrained in me that looking at your watch when you're talking to someone is a clear and pretty rude signal that they're boring you, wasting your time, and that in general you'd like the conversation to be done. Like if I so much as glanced at my watch while talking to someone, I'd immediately say sorry and explain why I have to keep track of time. Having a smart watch has changed this in one way, which is if someone starts blowing up my notifications I'll say "sorry let me fix that" and turn it to silent. I don't have a good fix for conveying this etiquette to people who never got the message, but I'm with you: that's rude, people need to stop doing it. No need to blame the device though. I'm with everyone else who says that the notifications are way less distracting than they would be on a phone.

elahieh 6y ago
looking at your watch when you're talking to someone is a clear and pretty rude signal that they're boring you Yes, some people take that very seriously :-O https://youtu.be/8Aq5BUiruPg?t=2112 https://youtu.be/8Aq5BUiruPg?t=2112