I bought a not-entirely-smart watch not that long ago (a Martian Notifier, an analog watch with a tiny digital display at the bottom of the face to scroll notifications) to test how a potential smart watch would fit into my life without breaking the bank. I gotta say, I love that I get notifications on the thing. It's great to be doing something and leave my phone in my pocket or across the room and just get a little buzz on my wrist to alert me that something happened. And that way, I can decide whether it's worth getting my phone to deal with.
That's just with a device that pretty much only displays the time, a weather report, and notifications. And I do not regret that purchase at all.
The Apple Watch will do so much more. Not only will I receive notifications, I will be able to perform quick actions on my wrist that let me get past that notification and move on with my life. Not only will it tell time and weather, but it will give me a host of additional information. It will do phone calls and fitness tracking, allow mobile payments, and a whole host of other things that will only expand with time.
Armen, I think, hits the nail on the head. This thing is going to be amazing, because it will cut back on actions and interactions that do not need to be there anymore. That applies to both how we use our phone (the text message example Armen gives, which is spot-on) but to other aspects of life. I love the idea of using the Apple Watch as a way to check into a hotel and open your room without even talking to a person. I hate the check-in process at hotels: in my experience, it's usually long, tedious, and frustrating. The idea of walking in the door and checking in automatically seems amazing to me. Using something on my wrist as my room key, instead of having to dig my room key out of my wallet, is revolutionary.
One of my friends who just doesn't "get it" complains that it'll cut down on necessary interaction with the person working the reception desk. So what? If you want to talk to that person, you still can. You can introduce yourself. You can chitchat. But the idea is you don't have to. And you also don't have to wait in line for a half-hour because only one person is checking people in and there's a large family with a bunch of rambunctious brats in front of you in line.
The thing that irritates me about the whole "it'll decrease our socialization" argument is that it denies the premise that we are capable of making our own choices. We can interact with whoever we want, whenever we want, and if we choose not to ... that's on us!
The thing about the Apple Watch is, as much as it'll do right out of the box, it's going to do so much more in the very near future. I was very skeptical of smartphones and tablets when Apple introduced the iPhone and iPad. And now I can't imagine my life without them. But the smart-watch done right is something I've been eagerly anticipating for almost three years, and I cannot wait to see just how much of a change it can bring on the world.
watch.
