I'm Chucking My Apple Watch ⌚️
Have you considered doing the same?!
What I was thinking…better focus
March 2022:
I had mulled it over for about two weeks and decided I’d like to have an Apple Watch. It would help me focus more on my work, daughter, and other tasks because I wouldn’t be picking up my cell phone so much to check for text messages, phone calls, and emails. Tracking my exercise was another big reason for wanting one.
Confident my life would change for the better with this new smart watch, I placed my online order and waited two days for it to arrive.
Side Note: At this point in time my daughter had wanted an Apple Watch for at least two years! She commented each time she saw someone wearing one, and told me about all the teachers who wore one at school!
She immediately saw the watch on my wrist when I went to pick her up at school. Her face and emotions went into classic disgust and outrage mode! 😂 “You never even wanted one…Why do you get one and I don’t?!!”
It was highly likely I would never hear the end of various complaints about how unfair this was.
Then…a pair of watches…a slight detour!
That first glare at the Apple Watch on my wrist sent the small one into high-obsession-mode!! And this little lady doesn’t fall far from the tree.
When I obsess about something my mind generally fills with anxiety, worry, fears of all the worst case scenarios. Luckily, for her, she just plain obsesses about all the things she desires! When she becomes obsessed about something…she cannot let it go. She does not relent. She is persistent, pestering, and not very patient!! (I’m certain these qualities will serve her well in life!)
We call her a master manifester!
Within two weeks of one Apple Watch being in the house, we reached an agreement that she could use some of her saved good-grades money to buy her own Apple Watch. She was over the moon!
Although, I was not thrilled about her having a wi-fi device attached to her body all day long, she was so happy and proud to wear her new high-tech gadget. (More on my wi-fi concerns below.)
We’ve had fun doing the fitness competitions, swimming while still “connected,” calling each other via wrist, using Siri to speak to text to one another from opposite sides of the house. And it has been ever-so convenient for her to text from her watch when she needs a snack 🤪 or more water in her water bottle 🤦🏼♀️.
Now, almost two years later, I have a new perspective on these glorious watches that have the ability to make life easier and cooler. What I’ve found is…they don’t make life easier at all. Cooler, maybe.
What has actually happened…frenetic distraction and discomfort
January 2024:
Self-awareness points the way…
For months I’d observed a gradual increase in severe distraction in mind and discomfort in body.
I couldn’t make the short walk from the bedroom to the kitchen without some sort of ding on my wrist prompting a mind-shift to the watch and often then to the phone…and then a forgetting of what I needed to do in the kitchen. Over and over, scenario after scenario of…
distraction, forgetting, remembering, distraction, forgetting, remembering…
And then there was the issue of my right arm. (I’m right handed but have always worn watches on my right wrist. 🤷🏼♀️)
I pulled my upper right arm muscles months ago and they just wouldn’t heal. From repetitive use, reaching to the car backseat to pull heavy bags forward, and sleeping on the arm causing tension and tightness and repeated over-stretching.
All of the above caused pain and discomfort in my arm, but I also couldn’t shake the thought and the feelings inside that…
Maybe the constant wi-fi and cellular waves blasting my arm 16+ hours a day was part of the reason this arm could not heal.
Who knows! But…
With the constant distraction and then the pain in my arm…I decided it was time to switch back to a regular, old fashioned watch that tells the time and the date…not the weather and who’s calling.
The small one has also set hers aside more often, too. Choosing her old fashioned watch with a fabric, turtle decorated, pink and green band…perfectly stylish for a little lady!
What I miss…instant timers and temperature
I realized the first evening without the Apple Watch that I did not have a timer I could set when 1) cooking and 2) saying goodnight to my daughter. EEEKKK!
Without a timer I’d burn dinner!
Without a timer I’d fall asleep at 9pm every night while getting the small one to sleep!
I also found myself flipping my wrist to check the weather, which would not appear on the traditional watch.
To solve the timer problem…
If I’m cooking, I set the timer on the phone. When I’m getting my daughter to bed, I put on the Apple Watch, set the timer, don’t fall asleep, get up, put the watch back on the charger.
To solve the “What’s the temperature right now?” issue…I simply look at the phone!
By not having the watch as a distraction, I actually focus on the information I’m searching for in any given moment. I look at my watch for the time and maybe the date. I look at my phone to see how hot or cold it is or if rain is coming.
And the best part of this focus is I actually remember the time, date, and temperature versus forgetting immediately the information I just collected because I can flip my wrist and get the information all over again once I’ve forgotten it!
Final thoughts…
It’s been two weeks now without wearing the smart, highly distracting Apple Watch and I feel more serene, settled, focused (LOL!)!
I look at technology far less and my memory for accomplishing tasks when walking from one place to the other is improving.
I can concentrate. I can focus. I can breathe easy. (My arm feels better, too!)
It took a smart watch that I originally thought would help me focus and pay more attention to my present surroundings to cause complete and utter distraction and lead me back to a focused version of myself who wears and loves a regular old fashioned timepiece.
Thinking about switching back to old-school time telling?! Or are you totally ready to limit or ditch the use of your smart watch?! What do you think?!
I look forward to being with you again on Friday for a practice in mindfulness…to bring you back to your center, leaving the distractions of our noisy world behind!
xoxo Michelle
A new mini-course on mindfulness coming soon!
Join the waitlist for the mini course Mastering Mindfulness: 10 tips for Becoming More Mindful in a Noisy, Busy, Chaotic World.
Anticipated launch date…Mid-February!
