Free me from the Apple Watch tyranny
The Apple Watch now controls my day. Don’t feel bad for me. I brought this upon myself.
The Apple Watch and other types of fitness trackers don’t tell you to get to 10,000 steps like the original trackers did. Instead, they use a variety of sensors to measure many different aspects of your day.
Apple nudges you toward three daily goals, represented as rings. The red ring represents active calories, with a default target set by your height and weight. The green ring represents total exercise minutes, the default goal being 30. The blue ring represents hours where you stand for at least a few minutes, the default target being 12.
I now close all three of these rings (almost) everyday, and not completing the goals actually makes me feel bad.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way, though. I bought a Fitbit Versa at the end of 2018 to track running and biking exercises. That was supposed to be the only purpose. But after seeing a deal that made the Apple Watch Series 3 only $90 more, the unopened Fitbit went back to the store.
The Apple Watch integrates with iPhones for notifications, text messaging, and Siri. So, why not wear it all the time? That’s how I broke away from my initial purpose, and the watch quietly worked its way into my life.
The first day at work with the watch was slightly embarrassing. There I was, sitting in a meeting, and what can best be described as a magical sparkle noise started. The watch wanted me to meditate, but everyone else in the meeting thought it was a bad time to do so. It was a good opportunity to learn about the “silence all notifications” setting.
Then for a long time, nothing much happened. I didn’t think much about the watch, unless it buzzed to remind me to meditate, a notification that I dutifully ignore to this day. (Even though I know it can be turned off.)
You see, during the pre-pandemic days, you may remember this thing called “going to work.” I went to work — almost everyday — except, mainly, on weekends. My routine was predictable, but would generally close all three rings: leaving my house, walking to public transit, walking to the office, going to the gym, walking around the office, walking back to the train. Except for times at the gym, I never specifically went out of my way to track any activity.
Come March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The state and then the country shut down. No need to walk to the train, walk to the gym, walk around the office, walk home. Without leaving my home, the rings would no longer close themselves throughout my day. I found out not leaving home means very little activity occurs.
Something had to be done. The watch started to taunt me, sometimes right before bed. “You can do it!” Only 200 calories to go. A brisk 15 minute walk will close your activity ring.
To prevent the watch from telling me that at 10pm, I started to go for socially distanced walks around the neighborhood, to head it off.
It really did have me, though. Things I would do normally, such as walk around the neighborhood, now needed to be tracked. I’d intentionally start the workout when going on a walk anywhere. A 3 or 4 mile walk was nothing to me. I learned every square block of the neighborhood. Sometimes walks were taken because it was nice outside, sometimes it was because I needed to close the damn activity ring.
In October 2020, I grew even more concerned about the rings. The nice weather of the summer started to fade. How would I close my rings everyday without taking a very long walk? Soon, I had an exercise bike that I could quietly use while watching TV or even in conjunction with workouts on an iPad app.
But no matter how much you give the Apple Watch, it always wants more. On a recent fall day, after a 30 mile bike ride, it sent me a notification that I had reached 200% of my daily goal. It added: “Keep it up!”
Since the start of the pandemic, I’m sorry to say that things have not improved. The Activity app on my iPhone shows that I closed most rings during most days of 2020 and 2021. Good for my health, but bad because of the dread that falls upon me at the end of the day when a ring isn’t closed.
The only thing that can free me from this watch is its destruction. I’m not sure that will happen. It has not shown even hints that it would stop working, even after 3 years. Even that’s not a guarantee that I’d give up the Apple Watch life. There’s some real great deals on the Apple Watch SE these days.
Based in Chicago, Jerry Galvin has over 15 years of experience in data center and cybersecurity operations. And almost three years in Apple Watch experience. He currently specializes in vulnerability management. Contact him on Twitter at @jerry_galvin.
