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I hate to admit that I fall prey to trends, given that I like to think of myself as rigorous and rational.

I bought my first fitness tracker watch in 2018; I was returning to a new normal in my life post pregnancy and since movement was always an integral part of my mental well-being, tracking activities I had begun adding back postpartum provided that extra shot of dopamine, which made the experience of achieving small everyday exercise goals all the more sweeter.

My humble tracker did its job well for a couple of years. When it died and I was in the market for a new one, I was confused because clearly activity trackers had now evolved more into smartwatches.

Now it is not like I need to be any more connected to work and home life than I already am but the shiny new offerings out there attracted me. Perhaps I was unconsciously also following the broader social trends where everyone these days is sporting a smartwatch.

A little part of me was sad at the thought of going digital in this way because I have a nice little collection of analog watches that I have acquired over the years and that I enjoyed wearing.

However, I was also curious as to how much more I could be doing to enhance my productivity across work and home, in addition to precisely tracking my movements outside exercise and running with the help of a smartwatch.

I used a smartwatch for almost three years before it became both boring and exhausting for me. Here are my reasons why I am choosing to no longer use it in daily life outside of exercise, running, and walks:

1. Sticking to routines is one of my strengths and I am inherently good at it. However, I discovered that smartwatches are not very smart about understanding seasonality in life rhythms; that is, it is unlikely and unsustainable for you to increase fitness in a linear fashion. Sadly, we have watches that egg you on to close all three rings or tell you that your fitness is subpar when you are sick, going through an exceptionally rough period of life when you cannot fit as much exercise as you want to or even when you are intentionally resting — for example, after a 14-kilometer run. It just makes you feel bad, even though you know that it is only an inanimate object.

• I run or walk and lift weights most days but educating myself on fitness, I understood that you need to move more throughout your day and improve your eating habits for any sustainable progress in looking or feeling good. Using a fitness tracker rigorously for more than five years has meant that I now have a good approximation of distances in terms of steps and kilometers. I no longer feel the urge to track every step during the day.
• Fitness trackers and smartwatches are inaccurate when it comes to certain metrics that people like to track for specific training, such as heart rate, cadence, distances, steps, and calories burned, etc. for running. Having used my devices with this knowledge over the past several years, I have a baseline understanding of what these metrics look like and how they feel in terms of intensity.
• I have become more wary of the data gathered through these devices, not limited to health metrics, although that too. The mind boggles if you think of the sheer volume of personal data that we are giving away by using smart gadgets on a daily basis. My watch and thereby the company that manufactures it know a lot about me: where I live, work, shop, what I listen to in terms of music or podcasts, what I watch on Youtube and much more. All the routes I run, walk or drive around get recorded. Without sounding alarmist or provoking conspiracy theories, I no longer want to be giving away information through smartwatch use 24x7 without any reasonable benefit to me.
• I am not a technology junkie and will never be. I don't think I managed to used my smartwatch in the many smart ways it could have been used sans exercise tracking or turning off a podcast I was listening to.
• My life is packed with a lot of goals and priorities that I choose on the basis of what brings me joy. An important one being cultivating deeper focus and intentionality, for which smart devices only serve as a distraction.

I have learned a lot using my smartwatch for ~ 12 hours every day for the past several years but it's time to curtail this association to an hour or so only during physical exercise.

For the rest of the time, I am looking forward to wearing my analog watches and reliving the good old days when no digital devices, least of all on your wrist, interrupted your daydreaming.

Do you use a smartwatch? If so, what do you like or dislike about it?

Thank you for reading :)

— Priyanka