The Apple Watch will begin popping up on wrists this month. You might even be getting one yourself. If you are, keep one thing in mind: If you’re not careful, it could turn you into a rude jerk.
Apple wants the Watch to make you more present and to free you from the supposed tyranny of your iPhone, but what the Watch does is bring another screen into your life with all the associated tapping, beeping and peek-sneaking. Here are a few crucial dos and don’ts to keep you from being that guy.
Do Curate Your Notifications: If you turn everything on, you’ll quickly find yourself overwhelmed and worse off than you were pre-Watch. Prioritize your notifications and have only the most important ones go to the Watch. The rest you can handle the old-fashioned way without making everyone around you think they are preventing you from getting to your next appointment.
Don’t Stare Too Long: Checking your wrist is the original impolite gesture. It says, “I have somewhere else to be and I’m telling you to wrap it up.” A quick glance most of us can forgive, but if the info you need from your Apple Watch isn’t immediately discernible, lower your wrist and either finish what you’re doing or politely excuse yourself to handle the alert.
Do Respond Quickly With Shorthand: There’s no keyboard on the Apple Watch, but the messenger app will generate auto responses by scanning your texts for pertinent details. You likely ignore these on your phone, but give them a second chance here. Use the phrases to get back to people quickly and with minimal effort and you’ll look totally on top of your game. More important, it will lessen the time you spend interacting with the device.
Don’t Whine About It: If you get your hands on an Apple Watch, the last thing your friends will want to hear is how annoying you find it and how tough your life is because of it. (At first, this will be a strong urge. It takes some getting used to.) If wrist-tapping notifications, staring at loading screens, and arbitrarily limited app interactions don’t sound like things you’ll enjoy, cancel your order now. Embrace the experience with patience and optimism, or skip it altogether.
Do Use Your Phone When It’s Easier: The Watch isn’t the ideal tool for all situations. Whether it’s a case of the app loading too slowly to be useful (like Apple’s weather app) or needing more screen real estate (Instagram comes to mind), don’t forget you’ve still got that phone close by. Some of these interactions may get better with time, but don’t insist on fumbling with the Watch just because it’s there.
Don’t Start Yelling at Siri in Public: For anything that can’t be handled with canned responses, the Apple Watch requires you to dictate the text to Siri. It’s relatively accurate but whatever you do, do not start talking into your watch outside your home. You don’t look like Dick Tracy. You just look like a … well, you know.
Do Use Common Sense: It shouldn’t be that hard, right? There are situations where it should just feel wrong to be using your Apple Watch, like a dark theater.
Don’t Buy the Apple Watch Edition: I just can’t take anyone wearing the Edition seriously. Tim Cook, Drake, Katy Perry, we get it: You’re super rich and part of an exclusive club of people who get to wear a disposable 18- karat gold toy that costs five figures. Good for you. On anyone else, it just seems kind of insane.
