I broke my Apple Watch and I'm not replacing it
The Courtship And Break-up
I should have said, “I cracked the glass on my Apple Watch.” It still works and you wouldn’t even notice it upon a casual glance. That’s what makes this an even bigger deal for me.
A bunch of years ago (7 more or less), my daughter sent a care package box. At the time I lived in Montana in the middle of nowhere (for the most part). She would send me boxes about every six months. This one came around Xmas and it had her old Apple Watch in it, which still worked fine. I think it was the 2nd edition of the first version — whatever that means. Regardless, I jumped into it hard. I immediately went on multiple-mile hard walks just to see how it worked. And this was the end of December in Montana. I was hooked. I hardly missed a day a week. I bought fitness apps and studied my numbers. And I bought more fitness apps and studied more numbers. I went so deep that I went out and bought an Amazon Halo — just to study even more numbers. While all these numbers definitely kept me active (which cannot be overstated) — aside from getting out the door, my numbers really didn’t change what I did after I got out the door. I went as long as felt I could and went as fast as thought I should without it relegating me to the couch for the next two hours recovering.
The novelty of it gave me a rush. Plus, I thought just knowing the numbers had to be worth something. I program data bases and figure out grocery bills in my head so numbers aren’t alien beings to me.
I have to say the watch was a positive influence on me. It pushed me to act. Summoning the Pavlovian dog in me — I felt the more data I collected, the more fit I would get and stay alive longer. Having cancer, I didn’t take the concept of longevity lightly. Shear exposure to data was a motivator. The more data that I could consume, the more motivation I had to act and improve myself. I even bought more apps when I was bored with the data my current ones provided me.
The last year though my Apple Watch has lost its luster. It’s become become an administrative burden. My exercise experiences, specifically my walks, have been consumed by the input and output of the Apple Watch. No real changes in behavior happen from it. More data doesn’t result in an appreciable change in behavior — or even motivation. Of course I know that data doesn’t solve everything, or much anything for that matter if there isn’t a specific game plan attached to it. Even with a game plan, was an obsession of physical fitness an appropriate use of my time and resources? I get wanting to live longer, but should I temper it to experience more while I’m alive? I’m only 65, but this is a query I often bring up. My cancer could come roaring back, and all statistical prognoses say it will. What good would it be to be super-fit if cancer slams me to the ground anyway. For the most part, no amount of applied self-efficacy will make a difference.
Don’t Ignor The Flower
The last year my Apple Watch has become a liability. It has sucked the attention away from actually enjoying my walks, especially since Blake the dog is with me. I’ve become addicted to generating data. My behavior isn’t changing — so technically it’s all for nothing. Maybe a bit less malignant, this obsessive concern with health data isn’t far away from Neanderthal Facebook (or TikTok) feed scrolling. (I have a friend who actually has an addiction to checking metrics for the social media platform she runs. Even in the middle of dinner on a night out, my friend has to check the metrics — often holding her phone under the table out of sight of her date). Does her behavior change based on the real-time data she obsesses over? No, she’s just like me. She’s addicted to data. Nothing changes and a whole lot of cerebral resources are squandered.
Moving back California (which I did a year ago), means nothing if I don’t take advantage of the opportunities everywhere. Hung up on data for the sake of data can no longer be part of my game. I can’t continue to hold onto this metric addiction. There are serendipitous opportunities everywhere — but not if I don’t notice any of them or any one. I can’t count the number of situations I should have stopped and struck up a conversation with someone who crossed my path. But I didn’t. The numbers didn’t allow it.
I have enough burned in exercise habits that not tracking my every move isn’t going to jeopardize my existence. In fact, isn’t that how we should gauge our level of engagement with any self-improvement program or app? We hit a point where diminishing returns kick in. And filling that void that used to be positive health returns becomes addition. At least that’s my take on things.
Now if I may add something. If my oncologist, or any other of the plethora of doctors I have, would give a damn about the data I generate and integrate it back into my care strategy; I’d even upgrade watches. But that probably isn’t happening. Something to think about though. Not only could doctors use their patients’ data to better their treatment, they could unlock an extra level of aself-efficacy (realized through better behaviors) within the patients. But again … it probably isn’t happening.
Our Data-Driven Society
It’s not like I’m against data. On the contrary, I just dropped $600 on the new Filemaker Pro 20. That said, we’ve become slaves to the data gods. We have no idea what’s behind the algorithmic constructs we’re feeding or what quality are they. Could there be a better example than ChatGPT and AI? The media crones on about the potential for bad actors in the world of data. This is true. But I’d be more worried about incompetent actors.
Maybe the biggest question is what are we supposed to do with these “mountains of data”? What will be our output? Data for sake of data? Some would make a case it’s our involuntary duty in modern day society. It’s easy to speak of generalized endpoints that sound good but hold no credibility under even cursory examination. Are these mountains a solution looking for a problem?
Everything claims to be data-driven. Everything! It’s similar to how a UL (United Laboratories) approval is perceived. If a product doesn’t have the UL stamp on it, is it safe enough to even buy. I dealt with this when I was selling alternative energy systems while in college in 1980. Our make-or-break path to success for the waste oil heater we were selling was UL approval. Same today with the designation “data-driven”. It’s become so ubiquitous it doesn’t even have a meaning any more, but you still have to have it. Like sustainable. But these words, data-driven and sustainable, mean nothing because there’s no set of criteria laid out and evaluated by an independent source. There’s just marketing people attaching them to ad copy.
We apparently need to gather as much data as possible, store it somewhere and determine what to do with it later. Most often only a fraction of its potential value is realized. In fact, I would guess in more than a few cases, the pure effort and expense of being data-driven eclipses it’s positive return. We need to spend less time worrying about data and collecting it and more time figuring out how we benefit from the effort we make collecting it.
So right now, I can just generate data for the sake of being able to say I’m data-driven; or I can enjoy walks with Blake and not stress over the seemingly endless stream of pee breaks he takes.
Excellent point Clay. Keep up the good work & enjoy!