Towards the end of 2023 I started to make a pivot towards removing some of the digital from my life. I love my tech and shiny gadgets but I’d started to think maybe I didn’t need so much of it in my life.

Coincidentally, a watch I was given for my 21st birthday had recently stopped working, so I bought myself a new one as a birthday present in January.

I’ve had an Apple Watch since 2016 and always ensured I was closing the rings and keeping streaks going. Trying to make sure I scored those monthly awards. It was convenient for checking notifications and messages without needing to use my phone, tracking exercise and sleep patterns, using the timer and stopwatch, and gave me quick access to weather details (a minor obsession).

I’ve now spent two weeks wearing my new watch and only putting the Apple Watch on at night to track my sleep or when I exercise. I genuinely thought I’d miss the Apple Watch more than I have. There were a few times in the first week I swiped the watch face to check for notifications before I remembered it’s a normal watch, no data other than time and date.

It turns out the main thing I’m missing is the timer. I used it whenever I made a cup of tea. I brew tea as I don’t like teabags and the timer on the watch was perfect for a quick three or four minute countdown.

I’m pretty happy with going back to just a normal watch. It’s an automatic mechanical watch so no battery involved, just a spring that winds itself while I wear the watch. No need to charge it or replace a battery every few years.

As I said to a friend the other day, I’ve read enough end times fiction to know I can also trade it for supplies when the world starts collapsing around us.