This is absolutely beautiful and very well done.

> Nothing you own is finished. Everything exists in a state of permanent incompletion, permanently needing.

https://www.terrygodier.com/the-last-quiet-thing

@stefan I had a watch like that as a teenager. It was fine, but it wasn’t wonderful. If they could have done what a modern watch does back then, they would have. I don’t know why you guys romanticize this stuff.
@causticmsngo @stefan These watches just work and last very very long. Mine is from 2010 or so—a simple model, nothing expensive. The wrist brace has long been broken but I keep the watch in a pocket and it still works like the first day. Good Japanese electronic device.
@blobster @causticmsngo @stefan I've replaced my wrist brace twice since I bought it. I bought the brace from ali-express because the price of a locally bought brace would have been 75% of a new Casio F-91W.
@stefan My Casio F91 occasionally resets itself to 12hr mode (i.e. I accidentally press the button somehow) and doesn't show the leading zero for hours 00-09, which would irk me more if I wasn't usually asleep in those times
@stefan There's also a finance/MBA explanation that deserves blame for the "lack of silence" of our modern device infrastructure.
You can't go into a bank, or VC pitch, or IPO roadshow, with the idea that you are going to sell 10's-of-millions of $35 devices with no "ongoing recurring revenue", some "service" that means you get paid every month, can monetize the "relationship" in various ways.
It's not going to happen.
That's what sucks most.
@stefan There's a forcing function for products that don't come with relationships: they're easy to break up with. If a seller then wants to maintain a relationship, the onus is more on them, and they're encouraged to align to your interests. Relationships in late-stage capitalism enshittify.

RE: https://front-end.social/@stefan/116345248295405561

Exactly why my watches tell time. ok, I have one also tells temperature and compass direction. And why my favorite watch is my 1915 one: it just ticks and tells me the time, all in exchange for a wind every other day :-)

@cdegroot Cool. Someone finally understands the concept of "the mental load."
@stefan It is a choice. You can still get a Casio F-91 today. (1/3)
I don't wear a smartwatch because I love watches. Different watches. A smartwatch is jealous; it gives you its full love only if you wear it all the time, all day and night (for sleep tracking). Not only do I get pimples on my wrist when the skin doesn't get air during the night, but also I don't want that during the day. I want to wear the watch that fits my current mood, or the one that I just like most at that moment, or the right watch for an occasion. (2/3)
@stefan

And honestly, compared to a real, nice watch, a smartwatch looks shite. (As does the F-91.)

Anyway, we have that choice. Either you want an attention-grabbing do-it-all device on your wrist, or you don't. If you don’t, there are better-looking choices available than the F-91, and ones that don't require you to correct the time, or exchange a battery. (3/3)
@stefan

@stefan oh wow.

„The problem was never how many things you own. The problem is that owning means something it never used to. Everything you buy is the beginning of a relationship you'll be maintaining until one of you dies or gets discontinued.„

@stefan No argument there IS a lot of enshittification going on, but this is just glorifying „the good old days“.

Your watch telling you about abnormal heart rate has saved lives, so I don’t see why this is a bad thing.

If you don’t opt-in to every app‘s notifications, you don’t have to dismiss so many notifications, that’s a decision people make.

And I remember the time we had to spent in the past doing chores like: sitting at home waiting for a call not coming. >>

@stefan Queuing at the bank for cashing in a check, making a transfer, printing bank statements.

Having to file these statements, storing them, for years and years.

And those products weren’t „finished“, they had bugs as well. Game breaking bugs in a video game cartridge, no updates. Bugs were fixed in the next hardware iteration, if at all.