Why I stopped wearing my Apple Watch as an Ex-Apple Engineer

I have none of these issues, because I have muted notis for every social media app on my phone, and that goes onto my apple watch. The watch is purely for fitness/ passive health tracking for me

Yeah I’m still debating but realize I have met a lot of my fitness goals and I now do things by habit. Super nice.

Fear mentality? Skill issue I wear mine so I can glance at a notification and ignore 90% of it

Def not skill issue once you have gone thru what I’ve gone through.

I’ve worn an Apple Watch since the first one so I just don’t agree. I wear it as a notification device and clock first, then tap to pay, sleep tracker and tell me in case I have an impending heart attack Mind you, I’m both a lover and hater of the Apple now, for some context so I’m not saying this because I love Apple products too much, blindly. I do wish Siri on Watch works more than half the time but, Apple got Cooked

Ex Apple here as well. My watch never pings me about anything. You can easily make your watch as quiet as not wearing one of you want. And still have time on your wrist.

It’s beyond that because the device still enables me to quickly check the time then slide into an app “quickly” to check something else. I have to break the addiction cold turkey. It’s also okay for me to actually miss phone calls now.

Fair enough.

I kinda went through the same thing with mine. Wore it for years and was glancing at it way too often. It rocked for fitness tracking and being able to do stuff like run and surf without a phone, but eventually felt better just not wearing it.

Yeah!! At first I felt obligated to wear it because of how much time I spent working on the project. Once I got over the sunken cost fallacy it is like a lot of weight was lifted.

I’ve had an Apple Watch from day 1 and this past year I stopped wearing it. I felt it would raise my anxiety with the notifications and was always a distraction. It was a chore to go through and change all the notifications settings. I went back to my analog watch collection

Yes! Exactly. Some how new notifications come in and it’s a pain to manage them.

Agreed. It was so much easier to just take the watch off and I found it has helped my mental state, and also helped me also pick up my phone less throughout the day.

I would love a watch without a screen from apple. I was actually thinking of building one that tracks stuff and just syncs data to healthkit, but don't have that much time right now.

That’s a brilliant idea! I like this a lot. Simple sensors. Nothing complicated.

@yehiaabdelm The early wearable bands from Xiaomi did it with a minimal screen interface (just a vertical band) and no fancy graphics.

@RayFernando1337 I am very particular about design, and to be honest I want zero screens

@RayFernando1337 Apple did screenless iPods. Didn't catch on well. I have used a few though. Watches or bands do need a minimal screen.

@RayFernando1337 It really depends on the person, you don't "need" a screen in my opinion

This sounds like a personal thing though, I have had mine for years and it is the least distracting thing. Phone addict energy, not the watches fault.

You are correct

Glad u knocked it out tho! Nothing like feeling free of something! 🤌🏽🙌🏽

have you considered whoop

Low key liking less tech rn.

@MLeeJr I bought an old fashioned ice cream maker to make for my fam recently super Low tech. I hate those stupid fancy ice cream machines that take out all the fun in making it.

@Sergatx @MLeeJr Wow this looks amazing!

Cant you just reduce what stuff buzzes your watch like the rest of us

I did and then realized it’s faster to just stop using my watch than spend time fighting it.

Do you wear anything now?

After 5 years of using an Apple Watch,I am switching to any normal analog watch just cos to avoid those distractions while in any conversations with close people/or while at any imp work I can at least avoid looking constantly at the watch screen now and then for notification🙄!!

Yeah!! Same here.

I turned off all my notifications on iPhone and Macs all the time. Much less distraction. Also wearing a watch, not the AW helps remind me of a busy day that I need exercise more.

I did the same and realized I can just take it off. Felt better and I feel less distracted.

I take off my watch from time to time as well.

I agree on keeping things minimal. For me, the watch is still useful because it auto-tracks my walks, and I have a meditation app right on the watch face for quick breaks. I also keep most notifications off.

Sweet! I decided to just go all the way. So far so good.

I am only wearing the Apple watch when I go to sleep - the watch alarm is the only thing that can annoy me enough - when watch locked in swim mode - and wake me up in the morning :-) . For the rest of the day, I wear one of my beloved automatic watches- which allow me to focus on activities without distractions. I have an Oura 4 ring that keeps track of walking, heart rare, oxygen and all the other health stuff. I am skeptical about the Apple Watch as one day I was super dehydrated, did not get to eat anything and also did not sleep for 2 days - busy with work --- I almost passed out, feeling shaky and bad - and the Apple Watch gave me a medal, saying Great Job do this again - or something along those lines - just when I was panicking and thinking about calling 911.

Wild story! I’m trying to do less tech and see how I feel.

I have all unnecessary notifications on the watch turned off now. Plus the way I see it despite losing 70lbs myself is my fitness goals are for the rest of my life now. Tracking my exercise is something I’m always gonna do. Plus it helps when I’ve mislaid my phone 🤣

I think my phone is distracting enough. An Apple Watch is gonna kidnap me from my reality and drawn me into information with more anxiety.

Yes!

Went through the exact same thing about 6 months ago. At first it was a way to monitor my phone without having my phone (reduce sceeen time around the family) but it created FOMO whenever notifications came in

It’s wild how it starts to hook us in. It’s a hard habit to break as well because so many people want our attention.

I realize you mention it in the video but I turn off all apps and notifications on my watch. I only use it for the health related features. My biggest complaint is Apple won’t allow you to have an Apple Watch without an iPhone.

You can have it without a phone if you set it up for a child in family mode. But yeah it’s a lot to manage. I feel my life is better without it so far.

Ultimately, you still need an iPhone.

Airpods is my next go to after my Apple Watch 4 broken when I dropped it at gym

Daaaang you are reading my mind. I carry them all the time and I’m realizing I don’t need to. I just tune into the world around me.

Fitness is built in habits, not hardware

I don’t see how you’re spending more time changing notifications and settings—you only need to do it once. I have a different take: we lack the discipline to balance our use of technology and time. I keep my watch on but don’t constantly look at it; it tracks what I need without taking all my attention. With discipline, we can use our gadgets without them taking most of our time and attention.

@Ben_if_its_It When dealing with addiction it’s not as simple as discipline. Appreciate the advice.

Yep that’s why I have a basic garmin watch that pretty much just tracks my steps

I’m in a raw dog phase rn. AirPods are next

@_hikhalid Not the AirPods?!

@_hikhalid Yuh

As a longtime Apple fan (right back to the original 128k) the Watch is my least favorite Apple product ever. I agree. It distracts more than it helps.

I’ve disabled all notifications from social apps and set my Apple Watch to silent mode on my first day with it. I bought it to track my fitness progress, not to be available to others 24/7.

My Apple Watch actually stops me from being on my phone, I normally check my phone for notifications however with the Apple Watch I can check them and 9 out of 10 times ignore them until im ready to reply unless its important.

This guy is why Apple is 🌈

lulz

Bro I’ll be honest I thought you was going to say “it gave me skin cancer” I keep seeing people saying they have something from the wearing the watch. Glad it’s just notification overload 😂

Absolutely correct…I stopped using my smart wathh long back…u don’t need gadgets to monitor your physical activities….once u know …u know…it’s the same thing u r doing everyday….it creates more of a distraction than usefulness….

I've had smart watches since the first Samsung one that had a camera. it was useful when my kids were small and we would juggle kids sports and stuff but I've done the exact same thing as you except I got a Casio Calculator watch

Turnoff notifications! That’s it

Nahhhhh it’s more than that.

I only wear it for workouts and sleep tracking now.

Since wearing a smart watch I noticed that I reach for my phone way less because I can dismiss irrelevant notifications on the watch and go about my day. If I need peace I can just turn off notifications it's literally 2 taps 🤷‍♂️

Here I thought I was in the minority for doing the same thing, agreed.

My Apple Watch is ten years old. I use it only to track my heartbeat and count steps!

I’ve turned most notifications from my watch, so that it doesn’t become distracting. Only text, calls, and health alerts at this point, that way I know the notifications I get are inportant.

I just stop wearing my Apple Watch last week for literally this same reason. Initially the watch was a great tool especially tracking my fitness rings and being able to read texts on my watch while at work. I agree that it had become kinda of a distraction and was tired of getting useless notifications. Now I’m rocking just simple Citizen watch and I love it