The Social Implications of the Smartwatch

                Since the beginning of the smartphone era in 2007, our daily interactions with those around us have fundamentally shifted.  The smartphone became a tool to keep us constantly entertained and connected to the people we care about.  As the technology improved, the societal impact became more widespread and prevalent.  Everywhere you go, you see people watching videos, browsing websites, and talking to their friends, all with heads bent down to their screens.  Many people even have a tendency to check their phones and respond to other messages while holding face to face conversations.  A new technology, called the smartwatch, could improve the way we communicate by allowing us to focus on each other instead of on the phones in our pockets.

                The smartwatch, an electronic wristband that connects to your phone to display notifications, has been growing in popularity over the last one to two years.  The device category came into the spotlight in early 2013 after a successful Kickstarter campaign by Pebble.  Now, in mid-2014, big-name manufacturers like Samsung and LG have released smart watches running a highly-optimized version of Google’s Android OS.  In addition, companies like Apple and Motorola are expected to announce their implementations in the coming weeks, pushing the device category into the mainstream.

                Adoption of the new technology has been expectedly slow.  The implications of receiving notifications on your wrist seem pretty negative at first; the vibration is much more noticeable so you’re more likely to be distracted by it, you’ll be seen as rude for checking your wrist mid-conversation, and you’ll look like a geek for staring at a one-inch screen on your wrist.  However, having been wearing a pebble for the past four months, I’ve noticed that these problems aren’t present at all.  Firstly, custom vibration patterns mean right off the bat, you know what type of notification you’ve received, therefore allowing you to judge whether or not it’s important enough to check.  Secondly, the form factor means that reading your newest email or text message can be done in a matter of seconds, making it unobtrusive and discrete.  Thirdly, new devices designed to resemble high-quality watches mean that you won’t look as geeky as you think.

The social benefits of the smartwatch are extremely significant.  In the past four months that I’ve owned my Pebble, I’ve noticed that I absentmindedly check my phone less than when I didn’t have it.  This means that during conversations and interactions with others, instead of regularly checking my phone for the newest, text, email, or Facebook notification, I wait to receive the buzz from my watch and judge at that moment whether it’s worth the interruption.  Additionally, when I do have to respond to a message, I spend less time checking each of my inboxes because I’m instantly aware of any notifications.  Without the watch, my phone is almost always out on the table in front of me as a constant reminder that there are other people I could be communicating with.

In becoming more connected to my phone than ever before, I’ve become less attached to it.  I spend more conversations focused on the people I’m talking to instead of on the computer in my pocket, and I’ve noticed these changes in other smartwatch owners.  As the technology becomes more popular, my interactions are becoming more involved and personal.  The changes I faced socially when I got my first smartphone are being reversed, and I’m grateful for that.  If this new device category sweeps the market in the same way the smartphone did, then we can all expect these changes to make our daily lives much more involved and interactive.