Apple Watch & Time
I had set my iPhone’s alarm for 2:55 AM Eastern Time on April 10th, but I didn’t need it. I had already been awake for several minutes, awoken by my own excitement. I was waiting for 3 AM to roll around so I could order an Apple Watch for myself and for my wife.
My wife and I had decided that we’d order ourselves Watches for our 2015 birthdays the day they were announced in September 2014. We’d both owned a Jawbone and a Fitbit and were very interested in the wearable tech market. I’m generally an early adopter of new technology and I was excited, even as a grown 30-year-old, to be part of the first wave of adopters of a new category of Apple products.
I lay in bed and pulled the comforter over my head to shield my sleeping wife from the light emanating from the phone screen. I opened the Apple Store app and impatiently refreshed the app every few moments, waiting for Watch to become available.
Just moments before 3 am, I refreshed the page and saw the “Apple Watch: Buy Now” banner across the screen. In an admittedly too rare moment of spousal unselfishness, I decided to buy my wife’s Watch first.
Tap — tap — tap. White band, silver Watch Sport, 38mm. Purchase. Yes, this is the right address. Scan fingerprint. The expected shipping date was approximately two weeks away. Success!
Ordering my wife’s watch had taken about three minutes. After checking my email to ensure the order went through, I turned my attention to ordering my Watch. The time was now 3:04 AM.
Tap — tap — tap. Black band, black Watch Sport, 42mm. Purchase. Wait…WTH? Shipping is in JUNE?!? Sigh… With dampened enthusiasm, I confirmed my shipping address, scanned my fingerprint and paid for my Watch.
Two weeks later, on the day of the official launch, my wife received her Watch. A full seven and a half weeks after placing my order, I received my Watch in the mail. Just a few minutes of difference had a significant effect on the time our Watches were delivered.
Balancing Work & Family
Like many professionals, I struggle to balance work with family life. I have a two year old son that I adore. But, I’ve spent many evenings and weekends constantly checking my phone for new emails from work that probably don’t need a response that evening. When I open my phone to check email, it’s all to easy to flip over to Twitter or Instagram and get lost in the world outside our relationship rather than focused on my family.
A Day at Disneyland with Watch
A couple weeks ago my wife, son and I went to Disneyland (we’d relocated to Los Angeles in the previous few weeks). When we arrived in the parking lot at 8 AM, my phone’s battery was at 96%. When we left the park 13 hours later, the battery was at 74%. This to say I barely touched my phone, despite receiving numerous text messages from family members, several emails from colleagues working over the weekend and a handful of phone calls.
Apple Watch has changed my interaction with my smartphone. At Disneyland, I’d receive a notification — a quick buzz on my wrist. I could quickly flick my wrist to check the source of the notification, rather than pulling my phone out of my pocket to take action on a notification I’d received. Below are two generic examples of interactions with Watch and with the iPhone that illuminate the differences between the two.
Text from a family member
Watch: Notification — Tap — tap — tap to send.
Phone: Notification — pull phone out of pocket — unlock — open message — write response — tap to send — place phone back in pocket.
Email from colleague
Watch: Notification — glance at my wrist — ignore for later.
Phone: Notification — pull phone out of pocket — unlock — open email — scan email — ignore — place phone back in pocket.
Throughout our day at Disneyland, I stayed present with my family. I didn’t set my son down to pull out my iPhone and read non-urgent emails from colleagues. At dinner, I kept the conversation going with my wife despite receiving several text messages from family members.
Moments Compound
My experience ordering Apple Watch demonstrates the compounding effects a few moments can have. Although I ordered my Watch within a few minutes of ordering my wife’s Watch, mine took five and a half weeks longer to arrive. In a similar way, Watch has changed the way I interact with my family when I’m away from work. I am more present than I have been in the past, largely because I can keep my iPhone shoved in my pocket or in another room to receive all types of notifications. I am with my son for more small but meaningful moments — a laugh, a cry, a wrestling match. These small moments will compound over time to increase the value of our relationship. This is critical, because my son’s time as an adorable toddler is limited and I want him to know he is the center of my life; not my smartphone.
Small moments accumulate to become the structure of our relationships with other people. With Watch, I have won back dozens of moments in every day that I no longer devote to checking notifications and messages on my phone. In that way, Apple Watch really is all about time.
