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It's ironic or a bit disingenuous that a device putting constant notifications on your wrist is advertised for stress relief. Not unique to PW2, quite common in

by clnq 3y ago

It's ironic or a bit disingenuous that a device putting constant notifications on your wrist is advertised for stress relief. Not unique to PW2, quite common in tech, but regardless...

macintux 3y ago
I can’t speak specifically to the Pixel products, but my Apple Watch has significantly reduced notification angst for me. I limit my watch notifications to the most important ones, allow more on the phone but the mute switch is always on, so I’ll check it when I feel like it. And because I don’t need to drag my phone out of my pocket when important notifications arrive, I can respond or ignore them with much less literal and figurative friction.
- clnq 3y ago
  Well, you can mitigate some of the negative effects of notifications by reducing them everywhere - on your phone, on your PC, on your watch. But a watch is a new way for them to reach you. It goes in the opposite direction to reduction. I'm probably showing my age here, but there was a time that's hard to remember now when there were no notifications, no devices constantly vying for our attention. You would know what you deemed important when you wanted to know it. No notification angst to reduce, no distractions to fight, no productivity to claw back, no sleep disruption to schedule DND around, no cognitive overload of all the systems on your machine, let alone a computer we carry around all the time, trying to tell you their state. That was for engineers operating complex systems, for 8 hours a day - very rarely more. Perhaps we are accepting things like "you can snooze notifications now" because we've adjusted to the new, quite crappy, normal. Imagine an advert for a car that says "you can turn off sudden unintended accelerations on your preferred hours" in a market where cars would never SUA. That's the normal we had for notifications - none of the stress or anxiety.
  - macintux 3y ago
    I also remember what it was like to not be able to reach loved ones in emergencies, to periodically find a pay phone to check a voicemail system while waiting for an important call, to have no idea that a tornado was coming. I’m happier with the choice to monitor in real-time what’s happening in my life, or not monitor, vs what we used to have: no choice at all.
    - clnq 3y ago
      Okay, I'll bite. In the early and mid 00s we had means to do all these things without notification spam. Even in the 90s, were these things problems? In which emergencies were you not able to reach loved ones or were unable to tell a tornado was coming? A lot of the public warning systems we have are from that time. What you say makes sense if you go further back, but I feel like you're ignoring at least a decade where we had all these conveniences but no spam.
    - kxrm 3y ago
      I grew up in Texas in the 90s and there was no way you would not know there was a tornado warning. People coped quite well with that reality, we live in a time where there is far more expectations to be always available. Before most people had cellphones if someone didn't know how to get a hold of you, they waited, and it was largely ok. Emergencies are probably the only thing I will agree with you on, but, and this could be just my luck, I just didn't have many of those. One in particular I can think of was when I went off the road into a ditch in the middle of nowhere while trying to avoid a deer and my car was suspended over the ditch so I couldn't get it out. I walked down the road to a local factory and hitched a ride with a trucker who took me to the security office so I could call a tow truck. Yea it was a hassle but it wasn't impossible to get through emergencies without a device in your pocket.
- ChatGTP 3y ago
  I agree, I'm not sure if I'm just a complete blind Apple fan boy but I truly think their products have mostly improved many aspects of my life including their "Focus Modes". I am rarely disturbed when I don't want to be and I get the notifications I need at the right times. By far the greatest feature of my Apple watch is being contactable while out on a hike without access to any Meta products. It's absolute bliss. I guess someone at Meta is trying to workout how to make us all completely addicted to our watch screens too but until then, it's paradise. A smart phone on my risk with zero distractions.
fshbbdssbbgdd 3y ago
My watch never buzzes me. I don’t think I ever set that up, it must carry over from the phone.
jwrallie 3y ago
I found this one out 10 years ago when I got a Pebble. Getting notification on my watch was increasing my stress rather than decreasing it. Also looking at my watch for a notification got many people thinking I was late for some appointment or that I was trying to find an excuse to stop talking to them. When I disabled the notifications I was left with not-so-smart watch with terrible battery life (still many times better than current models!). Nowadays I stick either with a Casio Waveceptor or a mechanical watch depending if I need the time precision of the Waveceptor or not.
dotnet00 3y ago
Based on your other replies it's probably just a fundamental disagreement on how you view notifications compared to those who find watch notifications to reduce stress. For me, watch notifications reduce stress by allowing me to get absorbed in the moment while still being able to quickly check up on any important things without having to "context switch" by pulling out a phone. It means that I can actually take advantage of my flexible work schedule and go out on a walk or be visiting my niece and playing with her, yet still available to others who might be working at the time. In the early 2000s, sure there weren't devices vying for your attention, but such flexible work requirements were also not that common. I get to do things whenever I want as long as the overall work is progressing at a decent pace. If I had to avoid getting into something enough to remember to keep checking my phone, it'd defeat the point of such flexibility, and if others had to wait an hour or two for me to notice and reply to them, work would not progress at a decent pace and the flexibility would be taken away. This is probably also a function of my position. I'm at the start of my research career, so most of the emails I have ultimately involve me asking someone else for something which benefits me much more than them. My being extremely prompt with my replies helps a lot with making a good impression and getting things done, and a watch helps a lot with pulling that off without having to actually stress about paying attention to my emails.
- PeterStuer 3y ago
  If you get stressed by fearing you'll miss an 'important' message to which you want to 'react' immediately outside of your working hours (I'd argue even within work hours unless it is that once a year true emergency) to make a 'good impression' let me tell you now that that is not a winning strategy. The hard truth is you are conditioning others to see and treat you like a good servant. One they want to keep as a servant. If you want to serve yourself and advance your carreer, bring other values to the table when it matters. You want to be the person that shows promising skills for the next few carreer steps, not be the 'good ata boy, fetch'. If you are truly needed for something urgent, because you are the only person that can do it rather than anyone that will do it. they will find a way to contact you even with your phone notifications turned off. Making the "good impression" is a negative if you are impressing the wrong image. You can ignore this advice from someone who has been through many stages of a carreer, and it can be scary advice givin your current perception, but trust me, this is an important worklife lesson.

by clnq 3y ago

It's ironic or a bit disingenuous that a device putting constant notifications on your wrist is advertised for stress relief. Not unique to PW2, quite common in tech, but regardless...

macintux 3y ago

I can’t speak specifically to the Pixel products, but my Apple Watch has significantly reduced notification angst for me. I limit my watch notifications to the most important ones, allow more on the phone but the mute switch is always on, so I’ll check it when I feel like it. And because I don’t need to drag my phone out of my pocket when important notifications arrive, I can respond or ignore them with much less literal and figurative friction.

clnq 3y ago
Well, you can mitigate some of the negative effects of notifications by reducing them everywhere - on your phone, on your PC, on your watch. But a watch is a new way for them to reach you. It goes in the opposite direction to reduction. I'm probably showing my age here, but there was a time that's hard to remember now when there were no notifications, no devices constantly vying for our attention. You would know what you deemed important when you wanted to know it. No notification angst to reduce, no distractions to fight, no productivity to claw back, no sleep disruption to schedule DND around, no cognitive overload of all the systems on your machine, let alone a computer we carry around all the time, trying to tell you their state. That was for engineers operating complex systems, for 8 hours a day - very rarely more. Perhaps we are accepting things like "you can snooze notifications now" because we've adjusted to the new, quite crappy, normal. Imagine an advert for a car that says "you can turn off sudden unintended accelerations on your preferred hours" in a market where cars would never SUA. That's the normal we had for notifications - none of the stress or anxiety.
- macintux 3y ago
  I also remember what it was like to not be able to reach loved ones in emergencies, to periodically find a pay phone to check a voicemail system while waiting for an important call, to have no idea that a tornado was coming. I’m happier with the choice to monitor in real-time what’s happening in my life, or not monitor, vs what we used to have: no choice at all.
  - clnq 3y ago
    Okay, I'll bite. In the early and mid 00s we had means to do all these things without notification spam. Even in the 90s, were these things problems? In which emergencies were you not able to reach loved ones or were unable to tell a tornado was coming? A lot of the public warning systems we have are from that time. What you say makes sense if you go further back, but I feel like you're ignoring at least a decade where we had all these conveniences but no spam.
  - kxrm 3y ago
    I grew up in Texas in the 90s and there was no way you would not know there was a tornado warning. People coped quite well with that reality, we live in a time where there is far more expectations to be always available. Before most people had cellphones if someone didn't know how to get a hold of you, they waited, and it was largely ok. Emergencies are probably the only thing I will agree with you on, but, and this could be just my luck, I just didn't have many of those. One in particular I can think of was when I went off the road into a ditch in the middle of nowhere while trying to avoid a deer and my car was suspended over the ditch so I couldn't get it out. I walked down the road to a local factory and hitched a ride with a trucker who took me to the security office so I could call a tow truck. Yea it was a hassle but it wasn't impossible to get through emergencies without a device in your pocket.
ChatGTP 3y ago
I agree, I'm not sure if I'm just a complete blind Apple fan boy but I truly think their products have mostly improved many aspects of my life including their "Focus Modes". I am rarely disturbed when I don't want to be and I get the notifications I need at the right times. By far the greatest feature of my Apple watch is being contactable while out on a hike without access to any Meta products. It's absolute bliss. I guess someone at Meta is trying to workout how to make us all completely addicted to our watch screens too but until then, it's paradise. A smart phone on my risk with zero distractions.

fshbbdssbbgdd 3y ago

My watch never buzzes me. I don’t think I ever set that up, it must carry over from the phone.

jwrallie 3y ago

I found this one out 10 years ago when I got a Pebble. Getting notification on my watch was increasing my stress rather than decreasing it. Also looking at my watch for a notification got many people thinking I was late for some appointment or that I was trying to find an excuse to stop talking to them. When I disabled the notifications I was left with not-so-smart watch with terrible battery life (still many times better than current models!). Nowadays I stick either with a Casio Waveceptor or a mechanical watch depending if I need the time precision of the Waveceptor or not.

dotnet00 3y ago

Based on your other replies it's probably just a fundamental disagreement on how you view notifications compared to those who find watch notifications to reduce stress. For me, watch notifications reduce stress by allowing me to get absorbed in the moment while still being able to quickly check up on any important things without having to "context switch" by pulling out a phone. It means that I can actually take advantage of my flexible work schedule and go out on a walk or be visiting my niece and playing with her, yet still available to others who might be working at the time. In the early 2000s, sure there weren't devices vying for your attention, but such flexible work requirements were also not that common. I get to do things whenever I want as long as the overall work is progressing at a decent pace. If I had to avoid getting into something enough to remember to keep checking my phone, it'd defeat the point of such flexibility, and if others had to wait an hour or two for me to notice and reply to them, work would not progress at a decent pace and the flexibility would be taken away. This is probably also a function of my position. I'm at the start of my research career, so most of the emails I have ultimately involve me asking someone else for something which benefits me much more than them. My being extremely prompt with my replies helps a lot with making a good impression and getting things done, and a watch helps a lot with pulling that off without having to actually stress about paying attention to my emails.

PeterStuer 3y ago
If you get stressed by fearing you'll miss an 'important' message to which you want to 'react' immediately outside of your working hours (I'd argue even within work hours unless it is that once a year true emergency) to make a 'good impression' let me tell you now that that is not a winning strategy. The hard truth is you are conditioning others to see and treat you like a good servant. One they want to keep as a servant. If you want to serve yourself and advance your carreer, bring other values to the table when it matters. You want to be the person that shows promising skills for the next few carreer steps, not be the 'good ata boy, fetch'. If you are truly needed for something urgent, because you are the only person that can do it rather than anyone that will do it. they will find a way to contact you even with your phone notifications turned off. Making the "good impression" is a negative if you are impressing the wrong image. You can ignore this advice from someone who has been through many stages of a carreer, and it can be scary advice givin your current perception, but trust me, this is an important worklife lesson.