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My hot take is that the "killer feature" of a smartwatch is that it's quicker (and less disruptive in social contexts) for glancing at notifications. I can't lo
by saghm 2mo ago
My hot take is that the "killer feature" of a smartwatch is that it's quicker (and less disruptive in social contexts) for glancing at notifications. I can't look at my phone in a meeting (nor should I!), but I can spend literally a single second glancing at my watch without anyone batting an eye.
- kibwen 2mo agoTo be clear, reducing the friction to becoming mentally enslaved to notifications is not a good thing.
- saghm 2mo agoThat seems extremely overdramatic for what amounts to a personal choice that doesn't disrupt anyone else.
- kibwen 2mo agoWhether or not it disrupts anyone else isn't relevant to the point here. Your mind and focus are sacred, and surrendering to notifications is damaging to your brain. You have the right to damage your brain all you want, and I have the right to think less of anyone who does so thoughtlessly.
- saghm 2mo agoYou're certainly welcome to whatever religious beliefs you want. Ultimately you have no clue how much I think about or don't think about anything, which means the only real thing you're describing here is a dogmatic view of how everyone else should live their life based on what you think is "sacred". Personally, preaching and condescending to people about one's subjective worldview feels like a far worse thing than what we're talking about here.
- phrotoma 2mo agoA dear friend was one of the first people I knew to get an apple watch, that mf will stop midsentence (his or anyone else's) to stare at his fuckin watch like once a minute. Convenient, sure I guess. "Non disruptive" - nope.
- saghm 2mo agoMaybe I'm just less popular than your friend (or have better filters set up for my notifications), because on average I look at my watch maybe three or four times an hour. On the other hand, even with no phone or watch around, I will break eye contact in a conversation several times a minute, as do plenty of other people I know. At least for me, life is always full of potential distractions regardless of whether there are devices around, so focus is something that requires energy, which means I plan around when I have it for spending time with people. I'm skeptical that if I got transported back to medieval times or whatever that I'd be able to spend all day interacting with people without being similarly "disruptive".
- phrotoma 2mo agoIt's a matter of degree. Breaking eye contact to glance at your cat or out the window at the weather is not as disruptive as stopping to read text.
- enquirewithin 2mo agoIf you can’t use your phone in a meeting, what utility does seeing a notification serve anyway? Other than to distract you.
- saghm 2mo agoSome things are important enough that I don't want to have all notifications turned off (e.g. in the case of emergency), but I'm much more distracted by a lingering notification that I haven't been able to glance at, determine that it's not urgent, and then move on. As for distractions, I think you're both underestimating how long I'll be distracted by glancing at my watch and overestimating how interesting something has to be for me to find it distracting. (I'm sure some people reading this will have the urge to chime in with claims that the only reason I ever have trouble focusing is because of all the notifications and devices in my life. They're free to believe what they want, but unfortunately I don't think I'm going to be able to make myself available to them for diagnosis like I did for doctors who saw me for the 18 years of my life when I had no laptop, smartphone, or smartwatch and treated my ADHD)