Apple watch I love/hate you
October 2020
I got an Apple watch for Mother's Day. I said I didn't want one but that's just mom speak for ‘don't spend that much money on me’. I fell in love with it and have ‘closed my rings’ every day since I got it. If you don’t have an Apple watch, rings are how your daily stand, move and exercise activity are tracked. Closing all three rings each day is how you achieve your goal. I started thinking about the power this little device has over me. It tells me to stand and I stand. It tells me to move and I move. It sets goals for me and I reach them. I have been happily putting it on my wrist each day letting it boss me around and singing its praises like it’s a miracle. I'm not a slouch but if no one was keeping track, would I still take as many steps or complete as many workouts? Nope. On days that I’m slow to get moving, it offers gentle reminders like, ‘your move rings are usually farther along by now’ which means, ‘get off your ass you lazy bum’. It usually works. I’m on a 150 day streak (and counting) of closing all my rings but recently I had one of those crazy days that there's more to do list than there is time in the day and the last thing I wanted to do was exercise. In that moment my watch became an obligation. It’s like a switch flipped and I can no longer look outside and think to myself, what a beautiful day for a walk. The new narrative in my head is “Crap, I only have 18 exercise minutes today, I have to go for a walk or else I'm not going to reach my goal.” It's a subtle change that’s almost imperceptible at first. You think, how nice is this? I'm moving more than ever before and thank God because I haven't been to the gym in 7 months! It is nice until you realize that this thing is taking the fun out of movement and turning it into a chore. My daily walks were always for exercise on some level, but they were also for leisure. I love being outside, breathing fresh air and just moving after a long day in front of the computer or doing a lot of driving. The minute I put this thing on my wrist, walking became one more thing on my to do list along with everything else that is required in my day. I love technology but hate the fact that everything is quantified and tracked. Enough already! Is all this data necessary? Obligation or not, this watch has done what nothing else has been able to do and that is to keep me moving consistently. Even if I wanted to take it off and walk away, I don’t think I could, at least not today, I really need the steps.