Using Apple Watch in Social Contexts

[bms2993]

Hi folks,

As many of you know, the Apple Watch is arriving in the hands of many customers on April 24th in the United States. As such, when customers begin to wear the watch, they will have to learn how to interact in social environments with the addition of an 'always-on' device right on your wrist. There is no doubt that with legacy non-smart watches of the past, that looking at your watch during a conversation is often considered rude and unacceptable. However, with smart watches, there is more reason to look at the watch than besides telling the time.

So, with that being said, at what times will it be deemed acceptable to glance at your Watch during the course of a social situation? What do you think about the etiquette of wearing a smart watch like this?

Your thoughts are appreciated.
bms2993

 

[RyanG]

wow. just... wow lol

 

[Tyler23]

Hi folks,

As many of you know, the Apple Watch is arriving in the hands of many customers on April 24th in the United States. As such, when customers begin to wear the watch, they will have to learn how to interact in social environments with the addition of an 'always-on' device right on your wrist. There is no doubt that with legacy non-smart watches of the past, that looking at your watch during a conversation is often considered rude and unacceptable. However, with smart watches, there is more reason to look at the watch than besides telling the time.

So, with that being said, at what times will it be deemed acceptable to glance at your Watch during the course of a social situation? What do you think about the etiquette of wearing a smart watch like this?

Your thoughts are appreciated.
bms2993

I think the etiquette should be middle ground between current legacy watch and a smart phone.

If you're in a big group discussion, I think looking down to check the time or a notification every so often is fine. If you're having an intimate, one on one discussion with your significant other, close friend, family member or co-worker, it's best to just keep focused on the conversation anyways. Occasional glances should be fine, but looking at it every 10 seconds would be rude.

My plan is to turn off all notifications apart from the ones I use most (calls, messages, sports notifications). Anything other than that I'm just going to turn notifications off (Twitter, Facebook, etc.).

Or, if you choose to leave most on, just turn on Do Not Disturb if you're in a situation where checking your notifications would be rude.

 

[KauaiBruce]

Hi folks,

As many of you know, the Apple Watch is arriving in the hands of many customers on April 24th in the United States. As such, when customers begin to wear the watch, they will have to learn how to interact in social environments with the addition of an 'always-on' device right on your wrist. There is no doubt that with legacy non-smart watches of the past, that looking at your watch during a conversation is often considered rude and unacceptable. However, with smart watches, there is more reason to look at the watch than besides telling the time.

So, with that being said, at what times will it be deemed acceptable to glance at your Watch during the course of a social situation? What do you think about the etiquette of wearing a smart watch like this?

Your thoughts are appreciated.
bms2993

I think it will be a big step up from looking at your Phone in a social situation. Etiquette is evolving because of the phone.

I think that we might get picky about which notifications we allow through. I would love to see a feature where we can set up two or more profiles for notifications that are a little more detailed than just the do not disturb mode.

It would be GREAT to have one that just allows calls or texts from a specific list of people but another setting opens it up to all texts and calls.

 

[gorkt]

From my experience with the MS band, the key is to keep the notifications down to the bare minimum. At first I turned everything on for the novelty of it, but that gets very old very fast. I turned off FB, twitter, and only left a few VIP emails through along with all texts, since I only text family and a few friends for the most part. That way, if your watch buzzes, you know that it is important, not trivial, and you aren't glancing at your watch every 4 seconds.

One of the reviews (I think Bloomberg) showed the guy constantly raising his arm up in an exaggerated motion to look at his watch for the time, and for some reason, that seemed a bit aggressive to me, and I could see how people I would be talking to would get annoyed fast. I will most likely just touch the face discreetly to view the time instead of flicking my wrist.

 

[jabingla2810]

Looking at your watch while talking to somebody is as rude, if not ruder, than looking at your phone.

It's an interesting thought, because I certainly wouldn't like somebody glancing at their watch when I'm talking to them.

 

[parallax33]

Maybe we should be wearing this on the inside of the wrist?

 

[Piggie]

Looking at your watch while talking to somebody is as rude, if not ruder, than looking at your phone.

It's an interesting thought, because I certainly wouldn't like somebody glancing at their watch when I'm talking to them.

Agreed.

Oh sorry I must be boring you, looking at the time.

 

[Runt888]

Surprisingly, I would say it's more rude to look at your watch. People generally understand that when someone digs their phone out of their pocket in the middle of a conversation, it's because the phone is initiating the interruption (i.e. "someone just called me, hang on a sec").

Up until recently looking at your watch was an action initiated by the wearer (as Piggie says, "I'm bored, so I need to check the time"). Hopefully as smart watches become more normal this will change, because it's much less of an interruption to glance at your watch than it is to pull out your phone.

 

[GrimmsGirl]

It has always been, and will always continue to be, rude to do anything except focus on your companion(s) and any conversation you're having. I've had people pull their phones out when they ring with the tired old "excuse me, I have a call coming in". Well, excuse me, but unless that's the hospital calling to inform you that a loved one is in critical condition and you need to get there immediately, you've basically just informed me that I'm only interesting to you until something more interesting comes along.

In my opinion, that is the beauty of the watch. It will notify you and, if you absolutely MUST know what the notification was for, you can excuse yourself to a more private location. You know, more private than in front of a friend over the diner table. No more obsessively checking your phone either. Put it away and keep it away.