4 surprising benefits I discovered since ditching my smartwatch

I have no idea where my smartwatch is. OK, that isn’t entirely true. I know that it’s vaguely located within the walls of my home office, but beyond that, I’ve not missed its presence enough to seek it out, charge it, and strap it to my wrist. In effect, it may as well be missing.

I was once a fervent smartwatch truther and felt naked going anywhere without that little screen on my arm. But a few weeks ago, my Galaxy Watch 4’s battery dropped to 0%, and so did my patience. Primarily due to my laziness and partially as an experiment, I decided to go one week without wearing the smartwatch. To my surprise, it has been close to a month now, and I’m struggling to find a reason to switch it on again.

While some people have fitness goal anxiety, health metric anxiety, and notification anxiety, my smartwatch gave me charging anxiety.

I’m well aware that I’m in the minority, but I don’t believe that current smartwatch battery life adequately suits my needs. I need a wearable that I can charge once in a blue moon, and the Galaxy Watch 4 barely lasts 20 hours. While some users have the process of waking, charging, showering, and wearing on lock, my smartwatch charges far too slowly (or perhaps my showers are far too quick) to make a dent in its battery life using this system. As I wanted to keep my smartwatch on my wrist to maximize the accuracy of the data it sampled, I struggled to find a viable portion of my day to charge it and create a routine from this.

This problem wouldn’t be solved with a newer watch, either. The Galaxy Watch 8, for instance, takes around two hours to charge fully, and once it’s at 100%, the battery lasts slightly more than a full day based on our review usage. Significantly, this battery life problem grows as your smartwatch ages. My Galaxy Watch 4, now entering its fifth year of service, demanded its charger so regularly that wearing it became a part-time gig.

Stripping this device from my wrist meant that I no longer had to constantly worry about charging it, and this has been wonderfully freeing and surprisingly inconsequential.

Ironically, I think smartwatch is a misnomer — they’re not particularly great at displaying the time, nor is this their primary duty. Again, it boils down to battery life. I’ve had to disable Always-on Display and Raise wrist to wake to maximize my watch’s health sampling capabilities — my watch’s highest priority skill — so to check the time, I’d need to tap the screen or press a button, which are both awkward tasks even in the best situations. Unlike traditional watches, most smartwatches are rubbish at constantly showing the time.

To plug this gap during my smartwatch fast, I turned to a device I bought nearly a decade ago: an old Casio CA-53W digital watch. Now I can see the time, set any alarms, or even crunch basic math on a device whose battery I haven’t replaced since I bought it. More importantly, I don’t feel pressured to charge and wear it constantly. Naturally, I now miss out on notifications and health tracking, but this hasn’t been the end of the world.

I’m tired of devices telling me when I should wake up or go to bed, and removing this recommendation from my life has only improved my nighttime rest. Granted, I miss seeing the colorful graphs and reading the cheering words in Samsung Health, but I’ve come to realize that these metrics are ultimately worthless if they don’t lead to improvements in my sleep schedule, quality, or duration. This was the case for me.

No smartwatch is absolutely accurate, but problems arise when they record data inconsistently. I’d follow my watch’s advice, whether to get to bed earlier or get more deep or REM sleep. But keeping track of my rest was just a fun RPG loop that offered little tangible or actionable reward.

Since I’ve ditched my Galaxy Watch 4 with its cumbersome cheek-chiseling body (I sleep with my hand under my head) and its bright data-sampling LEDs, I’ve enjoyed far sounder sleep more regularly. Even days when I wake groggy, I’ve not immediately taken to Health to view my inaccurate REM minutes but instead take a more measured approach — a few quiet moments to reflect on the day before, how my body feels in the morning, and what I could do differently before the following day’s rest that has worked in the past.

Perhaps I was a magpie in my previous life, because I’m easily distracted. A large, inviting screen on my wrist was akin to a shiny coin lying in the grass; I just had to fiddle with it. Whether it’s a new notification that just arrived, the watch face that doesn’t quite jibe with my mood, the complication layout I’d like to switch around, how far I am from completing my activity goals mini-game, or if I actually need to recharge this thing again (who am I kidding? The answer to that one is always yes), my smartwatch had a knack for drawing my eye away from my current activity.

Of course, then there’s the notifications. Many readers I’m sure rely on smartwatches as data relays for their smartphones. They can check their new emails, WhatsApp pings, or forthcoming events without removing their smartphone from their pocket. But this I’ve found isn’t quite the case.

Wear OS still has functional bottlenecks that make whipping out my phone the preferred option. I’d much sooner type a WhatsApp reply on the small screen than select one of the ill-fitting auto-generated reply options. At this point, it’s quicker to seek out my phone. Again, I’m not suggesting that a system that may work for thousands of others is inherently terrible, but I cannot say it works for me.

Of course, I won’t claim that removing my smartwatch from my wrist has been an entirely positive experience. I lose out on some data points and features that I genuinely find useful or interesting.

Samsung’s Body Composition tool has been my most useful smartwatch feature in years, perhaps only second to Garmin’s Body Battery. It is astounding that I can measure the ratio of body fat, bone, water, and muscle tissue in my body in under a minute. I’ve used this tool regularly to monitor my toning progress, and while it’s probably not as accurate as actual medical-grade products, viewing the trends has genuinely helped me improve my workout regimen.

Then there are the smaller benefits that I never thought I’d miss. Easy access to my shopping and to-do lists on Google Keep and Tasks, as well as a shortcut to the timer while cooking, are two often overlooked examples. Of course, exercising without the motivational time ticker, heart rate animation, and calorie counter is an emptier experience. This has got me thinking about using my smartwatch for high-activity sessions alone. Perhaps it’s time to get a dedicated sports watch?

Nevertheless, dropping my smartwatch has surprisingly benefited my mental health, daily life, and sleep sessions. If you’re struggling to find a place for your smartwatch in your daily life, perhaps it’s time for a reassessment and a smartwatch fast.