The Apple Watch

Technology forums and geeks across the globe were abuzz a few weeks ago when Apple released new details about its latest product—the Apple Watch, scheduled for release on April 24. The watch, like other smartwatches that have come before it, pairs with your smartphone to keep you connected. It’s a music player, a fitness tracker, a virtual wallet, a remote for other smart household devices, a sketchpad, a calendar, a deliverer of messages and emails; and, on top of that, it tells time within 50 milliseconds. It is definitely not a pizza; if you find yourself stranded on a desert island or stuck in traffic because of a disabled construction vehicle and starving, you will find the stainless steel or 18-karat gold tough to bite through. It’s also not so much a watch as a smaller, square smartphone strapped to your wrist.

 

 Image courtesy of redmondpie.com 

 

Apple advertises the watch as a way to “start a whole new kind of conversation.” It pairs with other Apple Watches so that you can sketch pictures transmitted directly to your friends’ wrists, tap gentle pattern’s to get their attention, and record and send your heartbeat, all to let the special people in your lives know you’re thinking about them. “With Apple Watch,” the Apple site reads, “every exchange is less about reading words on a screen and more about making a genuine connection.” But aren’t the connections that people make with one another face-to-face, at happy hour or cooking dinner or shrieking and swimming as quickly as possible away from a jellyfish that has been floating three feet from your legs while snorkeling in the Florida Keys (What, everyone doesn’t want to experience that terrifying encounter with their friends? It’s a real bonding moment), the most enjoyable and the most memorable? 

We as a society are only now starting to realize how technology affects social interactions and feeds the human urge to feel validation and less alone. Recent studies have shown that when asked to unplug from computers, cell phones, and social media for a day, volunteers started experiencing symptoms akin to drug withdrawal—cravings, anxiety attacks, depression, and irritability. One college student described the cravings as similar to “itching like a crackhead” (crack cocaine—not healthy, but also not a pizza). The pervasive use of technology has spurred a social movement to disconnect from our devices. The National Day of Unplugging recently celebrated its sixth year, and the Internet abounds with lists like “5 Reasons to Disconnect” and “8 Reasons to Unplug and Enjoy Life.” There are consultations you can undergo with professionals to evaluate your level of overuse or addictive behaviors and rehabs for technology addition. 

It is neither realistic nor beneficial to shun technology entirely in the current era. The sheer amount of information available via the Internet (including but not limited to vital facts about things which aren’t pizza), the ease with which ideas can be disseminated, the ability to stay in touch with people that live across deserts and oceans and that busy interstate you don’t have time to navigate today because you had to stay late at work—these advantages have facilitated and advanced meaningful connections and collaborations beyond restrictions of time, space, and social status. But when pictures of cats and animated smiley faces and videos of us jamming out to our favorite songs (I know that’s not just me) start replacing, rather than enhancing, our in-person interactions—that, I believe, is a damn shame.