Watches
I never saw the point of them. I don’t see the problem with analog or digital watches. Everything is regressed to a tiny square of a screen, that you barely look at. I just find it as an unnecessary distraction.
Light Bulbs
I work in retail and I stock these things all of the time. We have light bulbs, that are smart now because why? They’re stuffed with wireless functionality, just so you can simply change a color or maybe dim it through phone. More unnecessary apps, more unnecessary functions just for cheap attraction.
Kitchen Appliances
I’m bundling them all here.
There is nothing you’re gaining an advantage of, when slapping a screen on any appliance and relying on some unsupported app on your phone for basic functions.
I disagree on the smart watches, but I know I’m in the minority in how I use them. They actually help me disconnect from my phone better because only select apps send notifications to my watch, so if I get a vibration on my wrist, I check, see if it needs action or not, then move on with my life. In my work I often get messages that need immediate action, but I’m often in situations where I can’t be distracted in the moment, so smart watches have been super helpful.
As for all the fitness features or app control, etc. etc, I don’t really care. It’s nice that I can control my music, I played around with using it as a remote for my camera, but really, all I need is good, controlled notifications on my wrist for ambient awareness.
Pebble watches have always been the best and I’m eagerly awaiting my Pebble Time 2
Definitely agree on the bulbs though. Having color control or a dimmer is great but doesn’t need to be an app.
They is exactly my philosophy for my watch. And it got rid on the phantom vibration I used to have from my phone in my pocket. Thinking I had notifications when I didn’t.
Let me know I have a notification, and then I can decide whether to deal with it now or ignore and leave it for later without having to get my phone out.
Also sleep tracking. But that just requires a basic accelerometer with Sleep as Android anyway, nothing special
The original Pebble was perfect.
Agree, my smart watch has stopped me grabbing my phone all the time and helps me get less distracted.
Pebbles were the best. Having one taught me a lot about the best tech not having all the bells and whistles. It’s better to have only what you need done well.
This is the way. Filter what comes to your wrist. Text from my wife? Absolutely. Ebay badgering me to buy more stand mixers because clearly if I bought one I need 17 more? Fuck off.
I agree with this, but I do have to ask, why do you not just disable notifications by default. I have my phone disable all notifications unless I actually care, then I still filter to only messaging based notices on the watch. Also love the example, Ebay was so annoying at that, it lost its permissions to give ad based notifications awhile ago, it only can do shipment tracking now.
As someone with ADHD, I 100% agree about the watches.
Personally, I have an old Garmin and literally all I use it for is; telling the time; alarms; notifications of messages (Signal, WhatsApp, SMS, and that’s it) and calls; and counting my daily steps. That’s it. And that’s all I need it to do.
If I had to take my phone out every time it buzzed with a notification, I’d lose at least 15 minutes to scrolling. Instead my watch buzzes, I see who the message is from, and then either take my phone out and reply/answer, or ignore it to look at later.
I’ve had an iPhone and Apple Watch in the past, and was never really able to work out much of a use-case scenario for spending that kind of money on one, but to each their own, I guess.