I know technology is supposed to make our lives easier, and in some respects it does. I can study French with the touch of a button and my library books automatically renew without me having to do a thing. But sometimes technology gets in the way of us actually living a meaningful life. I have felt a need to untether myself from many technological things in my life and questioning whether or not something is important or useful to me. One of those things I began to question was my use of an Apple watch.
I received my Apple watch as a gift from my husband and I enjoyed utilizing it as it helped me with my workouts and tracked my steps. I was changing aspects of my health journey, and my new watch assisted me in keeping me on track with my exercise. Also, it was nice to not always have my phone on my person so to speak, and if I received a text message, I could technically reply through the watch.
This technological relationship worked for several years... until it didn't.
The notifications began to grate on my nerves. I am a writer and constantly being interrupted by my watch buzzing, began to irritate. I turned off notifications for many things, but others seemed to pop up like a bad game of whack-a-mole. I was tired of being told to "stand up" when I quite literally, was already standing. Tracking steps was no longer a measure of health when I began to feel bad if I hadn't hit a certain step count. The watch, which was helpful at one point in my life, was now becoming a hindrance. For someone who likes calm and quiet, the watch was becoming anything but.
Around the same time as all the annoyances began to creep in, I was in the midst of doing a declutter in my closet. I was going through my clothing to see what to keep, what to donate and what to toss (items that had holes/could not be fixed, etc...) I don't have a lot of clothing, but it had been over a year since I had gone through my closet, and it was time. And in a small box I found my watch. Not my Apple watch, which was becoming a shackle around my wrist, but my regular watch, my analog watch, the one I had purchased back when I got my first real job after graduating college. Well over 15 years old, it still looked like the day I purchased it because I always took very good care of it.
I realized how much I missed wearing this watch. I missed the feeling of wearing a watch simply to know what time it was and not for any other reason at all. A watch that simply tells the time. What a novel concept.
That day, I took off my Apple watch for the last time.
I am back to wearing my regular watch and it feels good. It feels calmer. My nervous system isn't jumping every time I receive a notification because I am no longer receiving those. I am not compulsively tracking my steps anymore. I still exercise and move my body, but I do it because I want to, not because I am feeling compelled to by technology reminding me that I am not hitting goals that I didn't even set. Less can be more and I find that this holds true when you are trying to minimize the possessions in your life. I am happy with my decision and look forward to even calmer days in my life.