Could I stop wearing my Apple Watch?

For the past couple of months, I’ve been wearing a Garmin Vivosmart 5 on my right wrist and my Apple Watch Series 7 on my left wrist. The main reason is that I wanted to utilise Garmin’s Body Battery feature to help monitor my energy levels throughout the day. This is something that I feel the Apple Watch could/should offer, but unfortunately, it doesn’t. My Apple Watch battery is now at the point where it needs multiple charges throughout the day, and I’m left wondering whether to replace it.

By all accounts, Garmin watches are great fitness/activity trackers and OK smartwatches. Apple is the opposite. After wearing one for 10 years, I have to agree. It’s been a great smartwatch and has done the basics on fitness. Sure, it tracks a lot, but rarely does anything with that data outside of telling you when charts go up or down. In the time I’ve had the Garmin, I’ve seen the stress a big meal can place on my body, and I’m experimenting with healthier evenings to produce more restorative sleep. The Garmin, being focused on health first and foremost, is making me think more about health than being connected to the Apple ecosystem.

The question I find myself asking... erm myself... is what is more important to me today? Fitness or Smart Watch? Getting healthy or being always connected to the Apple ecosystem? I can’t quite answer that. Am I so dependent on it that I can’t give it up even when it might improve my health? Do I need a screen or a watch? Is my life so chaotic that I need a triage unit on my wrist? Would life fall apart without it? Honestly, life feels so fragile and hard right now that I can’t risk breaking it any further. Maybe that’s exactly why I need to prioritise health over Apple.

Or maybe I just want another distraction. Yay ADHD.

To figure this all out, I left my Apple Watch on the charger and wore the Garmin for a day. At times, I was content with not being part of the Apple ecosystem, only to be annoyed when the watch wasn’t there when I needed it. The Garmin gave me enough notifications to be useful, but due to Apple’s restrictions, I could not do anything with them. It led me to realise that I do need an arm based triage unit, which is just what the Apple Watch is... because it has an ARM CPU... This device is a way for me to leave my iPhone alone. I can deal with notifications, music playing, weather checks and various other things without being sucked into all ADHD distraction toys I have on my phone. For me, essential.

This experiment led me to realise that I would deeply love to have something monitor my energy levels and tell me when I need to slow down, and when it’s safe to push myself with swimming/cycling/running/walking. A smart, really smart watch would be incredibly useful. “You didn’t have a good night’s sleep because you didn’t drink enough water... or ate late... or due to the humidity...” That would be really useful information rather than “Your numbers changed. Think about it.” Whatever that device is, it would also need to integrate into the Apple ecosystem to let me tiptoe into that world without waking my ADHD monster. There’s a possible future where Apple open up access to the iPhone, allowing 3rd party watches to do more, and maybe that’s when I’ll get a full Garmin. For now, an Apple Watch for helping me be productive and a basic Garmin for helping with pacing throughout the day. That’ll do, until someone makes a smart ankle braclet.

Links

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