How much technology do we really need/want in our lives?

lexic said:
And? Do you lack so much self control that you cannot ignore a slight tap on your wrist until you want to address any notifications?
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What is wrong with this forum? Why do you need to make it personal? Read the original post please. If you don't feel like I do and disagree with me it's perfectly fine. You don't need to start posting that I lack self control. What is wrong with you?
I am trying to say that having so much technology can be a cause of stress. We are being almost prisoners of our own gadgets. Think about it for a while. Do a test. Turn off your devices for an hour. How does that feel?
 
A question worth asking for sure.

Here's how I see the watch. We are already all in neck-deep with our smartphones. Walk into any restaurant waiting area and look at the other people waiting for a table. Nine out of ten will be immersed in their phones. If your wife or friend texts you and you don't see the text, you might get asked why you didn't respond. Many of us have jobs that expect some level of remote availability. We are expected to be available to communicate any time of day, anywhere in the world.

The watch doesn't really add a new technological "distraction" to our lives. (Well, maybe for the first month of ownership it does, because we want to play with it.) Instead it is basically a remote, wearable companion to our existing smartphone. It doesn't add any new information or notifications that our phone doesn't already give us.

So I feel in this case we are not getting any deeper into technology so much as refining the technology we are already committed to using daily.

Now, if we start talking about Google Glass or something like that, I would definitely question the need to add more tech to our lives.
 
petvas said:
What is wrong with this forum? Why do you need to make it personal? Read the original post please. If you don't feel like I do and disagree with me it's perfectly fine. You don't need to start posting that I lack self control. What is wrong with you?
I am trying to say that having so much technology can be a cause of stress. We are being almost prisoners of our own gadgets. Think about it for a while. Do a test. Turn off your devices for an hour. How does that feel?
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You stated that wearing the watch *makes* a person respond to notifications. I wasn't being personal. The watch doesn't make anybody do anything. It's a self-control problem if a person can't ignore a notification regardless of where it comes from.

I can easily go without gadgets. When I'm out I always put my phone (now watch) in do not disturb mode and only allow "favorites". Technology allow me less stress. As with anything, how you use it will affect your result. The watch has enhanced my user experience as it frees me from my phone.
 
redman042 said:
A question worth asking for sure.

Here's how I see the watch. We are already all in neck-deep with our smartphones. Walk into any restaurant waiting area and look at the other people waiting for a table. Nine out of ten will be immersed in their phones. If your wife or friend texts you and you don't see the text, you might get asked why you didn't respond. Many of us have jobs that expect some level of remote availability. We are expected to be available to communicate any time of day, anywhere in the world.

The watch doesn't really add a new technological "distraction" to our lives. (Well, maybe for the first month of ownership it does, because we want to play with it.) Instead it is basically a remote, wearable companion to our existing smartphone. It doesn't add any new information or notifications that our phone doesn't already give us.

So I feel in this case we are not getting any deeper into technology so much as refining the technology we are already committed to using daily.

Now, if we start talking about Google Glass or something like that, I would definitely question the need to add more tech to our lives.
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That's an interesting opinion. Maybe it is like that. I guess each of us will have to see for him/herself what works best.

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lexic said:
You stated that wearing the watch *makes* a person respond to notifications. I wasn't being personal. The watch doesn't make anybody do anything. It's a self-control problem if a person can't ignore a notification regardless of where it comes from.

I can easily go without gadgets. When I'm out I always put my phone (now watch) in do not disturb mode and only allow "favorites". Technology allow me less stress. As with anything, how you use it will affect your result. The watch has enhanced my user experience as it frees me from my phone.
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Ok, I can agree with that. As I said in my original post, I will have to see and decide if I want another device in my life.
 
I've been wearing Google Glass every day for two years and now I wear an Apple Watch too. These wearables are much more efficient at handling notifications so I save a lot of time compared to how I used to use my phone as my primary mobile. When I'm at dinner, everyone is on their phone but not me because I am can see if someone important is calling/texting without raising a finger. I also have a baby and wearables make life a lot easier when raising babies for many reasons.
 
petvas said:
What is wrong with this forum? Why do you need to make it personal? Read the original post please. If you don't feel like I do and disagree with me it's perfectly fine. You don't need to start posting that I lack self control. What is wrong with you?
I am trying to say that having so much technology can be a cause of stress. We are being almost prisoners of our own gadgets. Think about it for a while. Do a test. Turn off your devices for an hour. How does that feel?
Click to expand...

I think the problem here is that you are saying "we" instead of "I."

If you are having second thoughts about the watch, you have two options. Cancel it now, or wait to receive it and try it for a while. See for yourself if it causes YOU stress, and so on.

You can't speak for the collective because we are all different. You can only do what is right for you. You may indeed find that it is one gadget too many, or you may find that it frees you. At any rate, I would hold off on the philosophical discussions until you actually have experienced the object in question.
 
The whole basis of the Apple watch is that we need to spend another $500 to $1,000 on a device that is suppose to make it easier to use the $1,000 device in our pockets. If Apple is successful in convincing the masses that this is a good idea good for them. Personally i have no trouble using the $1,000 device in my pocket and am convinced it works just find with its existing capability.
 
mrboba1 said:
Even an emergency call?
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This is the thing that IMO the watch will be most convenient for. You never know when you're going to get an emergency call, or who it's going to come from. My husband's father recently had a heart attack - this is the kind of thing you don't see coming but want to know right away. The watch ups the odds that when that call/text you really don't want to miss comes across, you don't miss it.
 
mrboba1 said:
Even an emergency call?
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For real emergencies, there's not a lot I can do anyway. It's not like I'm Superman: Waiting for a 911 callout so I can save the world. Again :)

I suspect there's a little bit of "emergency inflation" going on in rationalizing ownership of the device. I'm just not that important.
 
greytmom said:
I think the problem here is that you are saying "we" instead of "I."

If you are having second thoughts about the watch, you have two options. Cancel it now, or wait to receive it and try it for a while. See for yourself if it causes YOU stress, and so on.

You can't speak for the collective because we are all different. You can only do what is right for you. You may indeed find that it is one gadget too many, or you may find that it frees you. At any rate, I would hold off on the philosophical discussions until you actually have experienced the object in question.
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"We" ist better when having a philosophical question. "I" am not a prisoner of technology. I love technology and know its limits and the ways it benefits my life. I would use "I" if it were my impressions after using the Apple Watch.
 
dontwalkhand said:
Depends what your interests are. This stuff intrigues me. Sports don't. To me the Apple Watch launch was my version of the super bowl. I actually look forward to standing in line for the iPhone 7. My friends are close knit and we usually all do the same thing.

That being said I'm not on my phone (or watch) when face to face with someone, it is rude. But downtime, you probably will find me playing around with a new app etc.
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your version of the super bowl, huh. LOL
 
petvas said:
"We" ist better when having a philosophical question. "I" am not a prisoner of technology. I love technology and know its limits and the ways it benefits my life. I would use "I" if it were my impressions after using the Apple Watch.
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Not when you are making statements as though they are fact. It sounds to me as though you are having personal doubts, and posed your "philosophical" question knowing that you would get a lot of opposing view comments... perhaps to overcome your own misgivings.

Hey, if you can do philosophy, I can do psychology! :cool:

At any rate, I stand by my statement. Wait until you get the watch, and form your own opinions based on how it affects you.
 
Blakjack said:
I want a bunch of technology. Just wish I didn't have to charge everything.
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I think that's the very nub of it.

It's fundamental value to many is convenience - and I totally get that. But to me the added convenience just doesn't seem to be worth the added inconvenience

I think if it offered better health-tracking I might be more interested. There seemed to be a lot more more promise of health-tracking in last fall's announcement, but very little was actually delivered this spring. I can check my pulse myself.

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redman042 said:
If your wife or friend texts you and you don't see the text, you might get asked why you didn't respond.
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That's really not a problem. They have my number. If it's important they'll call.
 
greytmom said:
Not when you are making statements as though they are fact. It sounds to me as though you are having personal doubts, and posed your "philosophical" question knowing that you would get a lot of opposing view comments... perhaps to overcome your own misgivings.

Hey, if you can do philosophy, I can do psychology! :cool:

At any rate, I stand by my statement. Wait until you get the watch, and form your own opinions based on how it affects you.
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Of course I have personal doubts about the watch. I am not looking for arguments for or against the Watch, though I have been reading a lot of user posts here and in other forums and am trying to understand what others like in the Apple Watch. I know for sure that I am not interested in the following features of the Apple Watch (but that's because of me only - it's not because the Watch is not good at these features):
  • Answering calls
  • Using Siri - I find using Siri awkward to use, never use it on my iPhone.
  • Using the fitness features - I just don't care about it.
  • Sending my heartbeat, or small drawings to others. No way..
On the other hand the following features do interest me but I am still undecided:
  • Notifications
  • 3rd party apps that might enhance functionality - but currently there is not one that would become the killer feature of the Watch (for me)
  • Remote control for music when I commute
Apart from that, the main reason I would want it is that it's from Apple and it looks great, and of course because I love gadgets. Are these reasons enough though?
 
I can understand your point, but to me I think the watch will make certain things that I do daily easier for me, for example I can use the watch at the gym instead of my phone, just my watch and my wireless headphones and I can skip songs so easily without having to take the phone out of my pocket and deal with annoying wired earpiece, not to mention tracking/monitoring my steps and calories is a bonus of course, but that was just one example....to me anything that will make me use my iPhone less is useful and worth the buy.
 
CooKieMoNs7eR said:
I can understand your point, but to me I think the watch will make certain things that I do daily easier for me, for example I can use the watch at the gym instead of my phone, just my watch and my wireless headphones and I can skip songs so easily without having to take the phone out of my pocket and deal with annoying wired earpiece, not to mention tracking/monitoring my steps and calories is a bonus of course, but that was just one example....to me anything that will make me use my iPhone less is useful and worth the buy.
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I see your point and I understand that the Watch can be useful for you. I don't want to use my iPhone less :)
I am also worried that I will start upgrading every year to the next version of the Apple Watch, just like I do for my iPhone. At some point I need to think about how much money I want/can spend each year for my Apple gadgets. So it's not an easy answer.
It's also my lifestyle that makes me think that the Apple Watch will be a toy for me. I work from home most of the times and I commute once or twice a month. I don't wear a watch now, I stopped doing wearing watches when I started using SmartPhones. The irony is now, that we are supposed to start using SmartWatches in order to use our SmartPhones less.
 
petvas said:
Of course I have personal doubts about the watch. I am not looking for arguments for or against the Watch, though I have been reading a lot of user posts here and in other forums and am trying to understand what others like in the Apple Watch. I know for sure that I am not interested in the following features of the Apple Watch (but that's because of me only - it's not because the Watch is not good at these features):
  • Answering calls
  • Using Siri - I find using Siri awkward to use, never use it on my iPhone.
  • Using the fitness features - I just don't care about it.
  • Sending my heartbeat, or small drawings to others. No way..
On the other hand the following features do interest me but I am still undecided:
  • Notifications
  • 3rd party apps that might enhance functionality - but currently there is not one that would become the killer feature of the Watch (for me)
  • Remote control for music when I commute
Apart from that, the main reason I would want it is that it's from Apple and it looks great, and of course because I love gadgets. Are these reasons enough though?
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I don't know... are they good enough for you? Or in other words, are they worth the amount of money you are paying for them?

For me, the fitness was a huge selling point, and I am thrilled with it for those reasons and more. I was already using Fitbit, but the Apple Watch takes it a whole bunch of steps further. I'm also an avid Siri user, and Maps, and really there isn't one feature that just leaves me cold. So it was a no-brainer for me.

If you didn't have Notifications on your "like" list, I would say don't spend the money. But Notifications is a big one... so, I don't know.
 
nebo1ss said:
The whole basis of the Apple watch is that we need to spend another $500 to $1,000 on a device that is suppose to make it easier to use the $1,000 device in our pockets. If Apple is successful in convincing the masses that this is a good idea good for them. Personally i have no trouble using the $1,000 device in my pocket and am convinced it works just find with its existing capability.
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It's an option to spend the additional money to get some additional benefit (depending on the user's needs), not a need to. Your iPhone works just fine without the watch. But depending on how you use your phone, the watch might make it a lot better, and look nice doing it.

And I will offer a counterpoint to the contention that Apple keeps finding ways to get people to buy into yet another device category (iPhone, iPad, Mac, and now Apple Watch). Their devices, the iPhone in particular, has also eliminated the need/desire to buy a whole bunch of separate devices, namely a still camera, video camera, GPS navigator, digital voice recorder, PDA, scientific calculator, portable alarm clock, MP3 music player, Wifi hotspot, portable games, portable DVD player, and so on.

So I'm not complaining.
 
petvas said:
...I am also worried that I will start upgrading every year to the next version of the Apple Watch, just like I do for my iPhone...
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Owning a wearable like an Apple Watch will alter your behavior in regards to your hand-held mobile, your iPhone. If you primary rely on your Watch for mobile computing, it may not be as necessary to upgrade your phone as often. For example, an iPhone 5 user contemplating whether they want to spend $800 on a new iPhone may choose to save $400 and buy an Apple Watch instead to gain cutting-edge mobile computing abilities like contactless payment and fitness tracking.

I plan on upgrading my wearable as often as possible, and only upgrade my hand-held when required to support functions of the new wearable. Or maybe just use the wearable as my primary mobile device, like if the Apple Watch 2 is a stand-alone device with cellular and GPS.
 
simonx314 said:
Owning a wearable like an Apple Watch will alter your behavior in regards to your hand-held mobile, your iPhone. If you primary rely on your Watch for mobile computing, it may not be as necessary to upgrade your phone as often. For example, an iPhone 5 user contemplating whether they want to spend $800 on a new iPhone may choose to save $400 and buy an Apple Watch instead to gain cutting-edge mobile computing abilities like contactless payment and fitness tracking.

I plan on upgrading my wearable as often as possible, and only upgrade my hand-held when required to support functions of the new wearable. Or maybe just use the wearable as my primary mobile device, like if the Apple Watch 2 is a stand-alone device with cellular and GPS.
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The iPhone is the only device I always upgrade every year. It's the only device that I want so much, I camped outside of Apple stores, waiting to get one on day one. This won't change.
 
petvas said:
The iPhone is the only device I always upgrade every year. It's the only device that I want so much, I camped outside of Apple stores, waiting to get one on day one. This won't change.
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I used to feel the same way. But I changed because the nature of mobile computing changed, from hand-helds to wearables. As my wearables have received software updates, they have become more and more capable, and I find myself using my phone less and less.
 
I can't speak for anyone else, but I certainly want a lot of technology in my life. Technology, for me, is something that connects me to other people, not separates me from them.

That said, I have no interest in being the sole focus of anyone's attention for an extended period of time. When I spend time with my loved ones, we are all periodically hopping on and off our phones to interact with other loved ones, and anything else would feel strange and cut-off to me. All my friends and family have other friends and family, so it's not possible for them all to be in the same place at the same time.

Aside from this, many of my friends live far away, so I don't get to see them very often. Technology is what keeps me in touch with them when we are apart. I keep my social media numbers very small (20 people on my Twitter, fewer than 20 on my Facebook--I only add people I actually know and am properly interested in) and refuse to have a FB app on my phone, so the number of notifications I get on my Watch is quite limited. I do get quite a few emails, and the Watch allows me to ignore the ones that don't require immediate attention more easily than my phone does.

The more technology I can get, the happier I am, so I am grateful for the availability of it. It's not for everyone, though, nor should it be. So long as everyone can live and let live, that's the most we can hope for.
 
I purposely followed the Apple Watch project very closely since the early rumours. First because I'm an Apple customer and long time user. Second because I couldn't imagine wanting one. Out of curiosity the more I learned about it the less I wanted one, but enjoyed keeping up to date.

Turns out I decided to buy one for the first hand experience. Now after a four day stint of heavy usage my initial impression was correct, I have no compelling reason to use Apple Watch.

A fun gadget, but a time waster. It's too easy to just play with it. Having read the manual watched all the videos to insure I was being fair to myself and not missing out, I'm now very happy I took the time and money to find out for myself. The watch is being returned.

Suddenly I'm appreciating my iP6_Plus more than ever.

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petvas said:
The iPhone is the only device I always upgrade every year.
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I too upgrade to a new iPhone each year, always have since the original.

Now after trying Apple Watch, I find I'm enjoying not having tired eyes from the tiny Watch screen after only four days.

Returning the watch I now know more than ever just how ideal and wonderfully multipurpose my iPhone 6 Plus is.
 
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