I stopped using my smartwatch almost 4 months ago — and I don’t miss it at all

(Image credit: Future)

Ok, I’m technically lying when I say I don’t miss it. I do still find myself absent-mindedly looking at my wrist to try and find out the time — only to realize my mistake and pull out my phone instead.

The reason I stopped wearing a watch in the first place was that my phone ended up replacing it. A smartphone that can tell the time, set alarms and do everything a smartphone can do made having a simple timepiece feel pretty redundant.

Over the years, it became clear that there were some things that smartphones couldn’t do. They’re really not that great at tracking fitness, for instance, whereas the fledgling wearables industry figured out that they could track all that vital information and beam it over to a phone app for analysis and safekeeping.

It actually works out really well, too. Over the years, I became quite keen on using wearable fitness trackers for this purpose. I may not be the most consistent gym-goer in the world, but when I do go, it’s really helpful to have some kind of metric telling me how much effort I’ve put into a workout. Even if it isn’t accurate, it’s still better than relying on the machines to do it for you.

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Fitness trackers started basic, but ended up bigger and better, with a bunch more features that make them feel more like smartwatches than simple trackers. And yet, no matter how many times I upgraded and what options I had, I never really took advantage of them.

I did try, and on multiple occasions, but I always ended up just… not using those features. I don’t know why I thought having a smartwatch would be different, but I was willing to give it a go. Sadly, things didn’t really pan out any differently.

(Image credit: Future)

The main problem is that no matter what other devices are able to do, I’m way too used to using my phone to do everything. It’s the kind of stubborn adherence that stems from the fact that using my phone to do things works perfectly well, and the alternatives don’t really seem any more convenient.

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Checking the time? Phone. Controlling music playback? Phone. Controlling smart home devices? Phone. When pulling out and unlocking my phone takes about two seconds, I’ve always been more comfortable doing things that way instead of navigating on a tiny wrist-display. Or using voice controls for that matter, but that’s a whole other story.

The smartphone is the ultimate utility, whereas a smartwatch is pretty much just an accessory that makes some things a little easier. Or so they say.

I’m already in the routine of using my phone for almost everything that isn’t work-related, and that means anytime something comes up, my first instinct is to reach for my phone and do it there. You’d have thought I would eventually adapt to using the device on my wrist at some point, but that still hasn’t happened. A smartphone is just too versatile for something else to replace it.

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)

I’m sure once my son gets older, and my daily work and sleep routine returns to something approaching normality, I may end up wearing my Pixel Watch 3 a little more regularly. Especially if I manage to find time to do some proper exercising that involves something other than carrying around a tiny human. But I do not doubt that I won’t be making full use of my watch’s true capabilities the majority of the time.