Opposition to SmartWatches

(c) Creative Commons

With the newest release of the Apple Watch Series 3 and it’s whopping price tag, I can’t help but  wonder why there is a huge amount of hype surrounding smart watches these days.

My first impression when Apple released their first version of the Apple Watch in April of 2015 has stayed with me until this point: why? When scrolling through the watch section of Apple’s website, I saw various descriptions of the Apple Watch that seemed very familiar. Phrases like “Now Siri is faster and smarter” and “Send messages, make calls, get directions” are plastered everywhere.

What made phrases of this nature so recognizable is that they all apply to an iPhone. If you want “Accessibility to the internet at your fingertips”, why not reach in your pocket and grab your phone?

As I surveyed various watches on the market, including the Apple Watch , a few issues stood out. One of these is the fact that, at Central Catholic and many other schools, Apple watches and other smart watches aren’t permitted. One could argue that all of your time isn’t spent at school, but 7 hours a day 5 days a week is a large part of the week.  Another reason against smart watches in general is the fact that they’re not as accessible as they are advertised. Think about it: would you rather grab your phone out of your pocket and tap in what you want to search on the internet, or would you want to try and get the “virtual personal assistant” on the watch to understand every word you say?  It feels like a lot of extra steps to accomplish the same thing.

Moving forward, to my displeasure, I think that Apple Watches and smart watches in general will continue to grow in popularity and regular timepieces will start to become less popular.  We use technology to accomplish so many daily tasks, many people will just accept smart watches as the next logical gadget.  Those who have grown up in the technological age will be more likely to get the more “technologically savvy” watch instead of the classic timepiece that many have grown to love.

I think that if watch companies who have been around longer making the “classic” watches will fall short to the smart watch companies if they do not upgrade their older models with new technology of some sort.  Who knows- our generation might live to see development of a “smart” Rolex!