I used to be sceptical about smartwatches but now I feel cheated if I go to the gym without one. It’s as if the workout doesn’t count if there isn’t a digital footprint – perhaps we've taken things too far
Opinion: I loved that week of daylight savings when I felt invigoratingly productive because I started work so early (but it didn’t last).
Now, after Anzac Day, we’re in the long haul to Matariki, when the days get long, cold and can drag.
Time is a weird concept.
A change by one hour can throw us into chaos; a change of season changes our moods.
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Yet we can’t seem to get enough of it. We even pay hundreds of dollars for hunks of plastic for our wrists with chips in them so we can monitor ourselves to the second, even while we sleep.
I was initially sceptical when my husband bought me a smartwatch. I never knew I wanted to see my days in neon graphs, broken down into heart beats and steps and bars depicting the quality of my sleep.
My watch gets way too bossy. I don’t know how people can stand to get their emails and messages on their watches. I can generally wait for the excitement of knowing that Briscoes has another sale
But now I feel cheated if I go to the gym without it. It’s as if the workout doesn’t count as much if there isn’t a digital footprint of it. I even get digital medals if I do certain things on certain days.
It’s called self-quantification in the research. Those of us who engage in a bit of self-quantification have been shown as more likely to achieve our fitness and health goals. So being told to move your butt (as my watch tells me all the time) seems to work.
For some, self-disclosure is the motivator, posting your data and sharing it with peers motivates some to get off the couch. For others, it’s the visual digitalisation – the cold, hard facts – of our laziness that gets our sneakers on.
There’s even a whole science evolving about how to make us more dependent on our smartwatches. Watches have traditionally been fashion items as well as timepieces, so expect to see more aesthetics in the smartwatches of the future.
Smartwatches are also highly visible consumer goods that can be used to signal things to our peers. Expect more conspicuous consumption, where we can demonstrate our wealth, values, and social identity through the chips on our wrists.
‘Device annoyance’ one study says is a ‘strong inhibitor of satisfaction’. Right on. My watch gets way too bossy. I don’t know how people can stand to get their emails and messages on their watches. I can generally wait for the excitement of knowing that Briscoes has another sale.
Companies are now looking how to better customise and integrate these notifications into our lives. Soon we won’t even know we are being told what to do by our timepieces.
The drive to digitalise our private lives and monitor our every muscle twitch will continue. Commentators predict that eventually we will wear smartshirts and smartpants – clothing embedded with sensors – that will feed our need for self-quantification.
Though I revel in the fact that it's only Wednesday and I’ve already achieved my required intensity minutes for the week, I am left pondering if we are taking this too far.
A friend posted online in despair that she’d left her smartwatch at home as she headed off to tramp into some of the most beautiful bush on the planet.
Maybe it’s not a real tramp if you don’t know how many steps you took each day.
Or maybe we should claim back our wrists, take back control, and use smart technology to enhance our lives, not distract us from them.
