Ryan Ashcraft

I stopped wearing my Apple Watch a few months ago and haven't been tempted to start again. After many years of wearing one, I finally realized having technology constantly nagging me on my wrist was harming my health more than helping.

The focus on streaks and rings doesn't work for my routine and workouts (mainly CrossFit). I'll occasionally wear it as a heart rate monitor, but overall it's been freeing to have more physical distance from my tech.

Feb 5 at 3:57pmIvory for Mac
Show threadRyan AshcraftFeb 5

I don't think we talk enough about how the Apple Watch is pure genius from a product-retention perspective.

Streaks: wear the Watch every day
Stand ring: wear the Watch all day

Are these features actually helping you, or just retaining you as an Apple Watch user? Serious question to ask yourself.

Show threadRich AestheticFeb 5
@ryanashcraft I like the data collection aspect. Only notifications I have are Foodnoms meals reminders, Liftin workout tracking, iMessage, and phone. Everything else (of which there isn’t much that I allow) goes to iPhone, then iPad, then Mac only.
Show threadkevalFeb 5

@ryanashcraft I used to obsess over streaks but it had a negative impact because there are always days when you don't feel good and now losing your streak makes it worse. Then I stumbled on this blog https://www.humancode.us/2023/04/13/streaks-are-bad.html and now my life has changed.

I also, removed streaks from my pushup tracking app and life feels so much better now. No stressing out on silly streaks.

Streaks are bad for you

I’m convinced that streaks is an antipattern for healthy habits, and it is actually quite bad for you.

humancode.us
Show threadcalicodingFeb 5
@ryanashcraft first thing I did with mine was turn off all notifications. Way too disruptive. I don’t really look at my rings, but I do use it for sleep tracking and heart rate during workouts
Show threadRyan AshcraftFeb 5

@calicoding I personally don't feel there's enough value in the product if you take away notifications and don't value the rings.

Do you get value out of sleep tracking? I feel like I'm capable of assessing my own sleep performance.

Show threadcalicodingFeb 5
@ryanashcraft yeah. I struggle with sleep so it’s helpful for me to track how long I sleep each night.
Show threadAndrew LaytonFeb 5
@ryanashcraft I’ve definitely thought about doing the same. Ironically, I keep using it (at least partially) because of the adjustments that Foodnoms does based on your activity 😅
Show threadRyan AshcraftFeb 5
@andrewlayton lol
Show threadToph AllenFeb 5
@ryanashcraft I’ve kinda wondered about this, as a long time Apple Watch wearer. More and more these days, technology from large, hungry companies feels like Faustian bargains
Show threadRuss ShanahanFeb 8

@ryanashcraft similar boat (though I still wear it while sleeping)

I feel like they could breathe life into it if they embraced voice input much more than touch input. If it was basically a microphone for your iPhone, and Siri becomes awesome, that might rock.

I got hollyland lav mics for my iPhone. I’m super curious about voice input as the next frontier.

Show threadFranklin Delano StalloneFeb 8

@ryanashcraft I suppose some people would say I'm cheating by setting the base calorie rate low and practically speaking I often triple it most days. Not driving certainly helps maintaining streaks without thinking about it and the proper thing to do it not care about streaks but I know myself so I've gamed it.

Both the watch and phone I'm pretty hardcore about focus modes. Notifications are fine but it's good to have periods of the day where no one can contact you.

Show threadFranklin Delano StalloneFeb 8
@ryanashcraft Aside from the camera and web browsing in some ways the watch is more important to me than the phone. If I could browse on the watch, I think I could cut off the phone more and in some ways that would be preferable.