3 Unexpected Results of My Quantified Self Experiment
Every now and then, Lauren Rad, one of the team members behind the scenes here at Myrth, will pop in with a personal blog post. This time, she’s sharing her adventures in using a smart watch after a prolonged resistance to the idea.
After years of resisting, I got a smart watch last month.
Let me back up a little bit. It's not that I'm a total Luddite, and I'm not morally opposed to the idea of one. It's just that I had a perfectly good, deeply loved analog watch that I'd been wearing since my parents gave it to me nearly a decade ago, along with a Fitbit that did the basic health tracking things I wanted. I was worried a smart watch would be just another way for tech to suck me in with distracting pings and notifications. I didn't think I needed more.
But life happens, and it turns out I did actually need a little more firepower. See, I missed a couple urgent calls one morning because I had chucked my phone across the room in an effort to remove distracting temptations while I was trying to work. Everything was fine in the end, but it rattled me pretty badly. I spent a while trying to see if I could turn off notifications on my phone so that all I heard was the ringtone, but after hunting around for a while, it looked like the only way to do it involved a whole lot of effort, and I wasn't even sure that was going to do what I really needed it to do.
And then my Fitbit died.
It was like the universe was conspiring to send me a message, so I did a little bit of research and settled on this Skagen Falster watch. I use a Pixel phone, and I wanted something that integrated easily while still looking as much like an ordinary watch as possible. This one happened to go on massive sale, and I was able to stack a coupon on top of it, which brought it down to about the price of buying a new Fitbit. I decided it was time to try something new.
It’s been a fun quantified self experiment so far, and one full of surprises. I thought it might spark some discussion, so here are some things I've learned over the last month’s experiment with using my smart watch.
1. Screen time.
It turns out that having this easy little signal for phone calls and text messages has really cut down on my screen time. When I am not constantly worried about missing something, I don't tend to check my phone as much, which then keeps me from getting distracted by the siren song of social media. I can just take a look at my wrist and not worry about falling down a Twitter rabbit hole. I could theoretically install the apps on the watch, but those apps (1) drain precious battery and (2) aren’t very fun on such a tiny screen. I find I’m not tempted.
2. Heart rate.
It turns out I really like being able to see my heart rate throughout the course of the day. I don't really care about it so much for fitness purposes, although that's interesting, but I’m very interested in it for mental health reasons. See, when I have a sudden spike in anxiety or I'm having a particularly anxious day, I can see that on my heart rate readout. When it looks like I've had an unusually elevated heart rate for an extended period of time, I know it's time to really sit down and try to interrupt the anxiety somehow, usually through some meditation and a big mug of chamomile tea.
3. Mindfulness.
I love having easy access to a quick mindfulness app. Most smart watches have some sort of breathing exercise function, which was something I hadn’t been as diligent about until I had it attached to my wrist and could check in at a moment’s notice. It's also been a great way to introduce my child to mindful breathing. She loves to climb into my lap, tap my watch, and slowly breathe in and out as the purple circle expands and contracts. It's a fun thing to do together, and I love being able to help her build good habits early on.
I'll be curious to see whether the data tracking is interesting or useful to me long-term. I'm particularly curious about whether I will notice seasonal variations in things, since I do notice general changes in my emotional well-being and interest in going outside as the seasons turn.
Ultimately, I think it will be a fun experiment, and I'm glad to have discovered unexpected benefits. I’d love to compare notes with anybody else who has found pleasant surprises in technology they had previously resisted.
Have you been surprised by unexpected benefits from new technology you had resisted? Share with us in the comments!
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