I love the amazing advances in hardware and general tech that enabled this progression.
However, what I am finding only works better and better for my brain and well-being is to push in the opposite direction. I went from wearing a smart watch 23 hours a day, 365 days of the year for several years, to not even knowing where it is right now.
I do most of my computing/gaming/browsing on an old desktop PC running Linux. I just replaced the fans in one of the PCs that’s 15 years old because they sounded like a locomotive.
The best part though is getting up to get a drink, hit the restroom, or even go chill outside with my pets for an hour and just leave my phone wherever it’s sitting. Just some time to exist and pay attention to my senses and the world around me without getting fucking notifications.
Or hell, even being at work and literally working on technology while being isolated from the outside tech world trying to get my attention.
Though if you have a smart watch that can save you from missing notifications during those times. That’s why mine had to go, lol.
I’ve worn a pebble smartwatch for a decade just to avoid all the annoying noises our phones make non stop. So i keep my phone on silent and I’ve got the pebble set to only get notifications for texts and calls neither of which i get a ton of on a daily basis. I like to be able to glance down and either ignore or pull out my phone and deal with.
I am also a big fan of leaving my phone in the other room and dont wear the pebble a lot on weekends just to get a break.
I’ve never had a pebble but they always looked great. If I wanted to go back to a smart watch but keep it more watch-like and less “tiny phone stuck to my body” then I’d be checking them out.
The benefit you described is one of the things that led me to wear one for so long. You get notifications silently yet they can be attention-grabbing (adhd sends its regards), and you can check them or the time or the weather without fumbling with your phone.
I love the amazing advances in hardware and general tech that enabled this progression.
However, what I am finding only works better and better for my brain and well-being is to push in the opposite direction. I went from wearing a smart watch 23 hours a day, 365 days of the year for several years, to not even knowing where it is right now.
I do most of my computing/gaming/browsing on an old desktop PC running Linux. I just replaced the fans in one of the PCs that’s 15 years old because they sounded like a locomotive.
The best part though is getting up to get a drink, hit the restroom, or even go chill outside with my pets for an hour and just leave my phone wherever it’s sitting. Just some time to exist and pay attention to my senses and the world around me without getting fucking notifications.
Or hell, even being at work and literally working on technology while being isolated from the outside tech world trying to get my attention.
Though if you have a smart watch that can save you from missing notifications during those times. That’s why mine had to go, lol.
https://xkcd.com/1825/
Love it.
And that might be one I haven’t seen, which is even better.
I’ve worn a pebble smartwatch for a decade just to avoid all the annoying noises our phones make non stop. So i keep my phone on silent and I’ve got the pebble set to only get notifications for texts and calls neither of which i get a ton of on a daily basis. I like to be able to glance down and either ignore or pull out my phone and deal with.
I am also a big fan of leaving my phone in the other room and dont wear the pebble a lot on weekends just to get a break.
I’ve never had a pebble but they always looked great. If I wanted to go back to a smart watch but keep it more watch-like and less “tiny phone stuck to my body” then I’d be checking them out.
The benefit you described is one of the things that led me to wear one for so long. You get notifications silently yet they can be attention-grabbing (adhd sends its regards), and you can check them or the time or the weather without fumbling with your phone.