Should you turn the clock back on your choice of wristwatch?
Gosh, smartwatches really tick me off. They’re so horribly antisocial! The scenario: you’re catching up with a friend and see their eyes constantly darting to their watch. What’s wrong? Are they bored of you? Are they watching the minutes slowly tick by until they’re free of your company? Nope, they’re just looking at their messages. Every time a message comes in, the watch screen springs into life, lighting up and demanding attention. It may only be for a moment, but add those moments up over the course of an evening and the cumulative effect is… well, plain bloody rude.
I thought things were getting pretty bad on the old etiquette front a few years ago when people started setting their phones out on the table at the pub or restaurant. It was as though they were “hot desking” at some hip workplace. But this smartwatch business is even worse.
What’s happened to basic manners? Has everyone forgotten that it’s bad form to be in someone’s company and to keep giving your attention to something else? I don’t think people always mean to be offensive. But the problem is that the watch forces you to look. If you’re sat there with your hand out in front of you and some blinking activity occurs in the vicinity of your wrist then you’re inevitably going to check it. I always did find flashy watches garish; but the oversized, jewel-encrusted bling gets my vote every time over this new breed of attention-seeking timepiece that quite literally flashes until it catches your eye.
Apart from the antisocial element, it’s surely not good for one to be constantly at the beck and call of one’s watch. The irony is that the sort of people who lap up all this advanced tech are the same sort of people who go in for trends like guided mediation apps and “being in the moment”. Of course you’re going to need help relaxing and destressing if you’re constantly wearing a smartwatch. It’s practically a digital handcuff that chains you to your work, tells you when to exercise and even when to go to bed. With a smartwatch on your wrist, even short moments of respite like sitting on the loo are taken away from you because you’re constantly “plugged in”....
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