Did a Week With the Apple Watch Make Me Use My iPhone Less?

Speaker 1: I am an Apple Watch newbie and wore the series nine for a week to see if it could help me have a healthier relationship with my iPhone and take better care of myself. I have a MacBook, iPad, AirPods, and an iPhone, but somehow I've never used an Apple watch. This one has cellular so you can call and text on it even if your iPhone isn't around. It also encourages you to move around and practice mindfulness. Here is why that matters to me. Right now. My daily [00:00:30] average iPhone screen time is nine hours and three minutes. Speaker 1: Embarrassing. You can never say I don't share stuff with you. The Apple Watch really covers some key functions of my iPhone. I can call on it, text, listen to music, use Apple Pay. That is huge. So I am really interested to see whether or not it makes me go on my iPhone less. Let's hope. After I set up my watch, I went on a walk without my iPhone and here is how I felt about it. Honestly, I am not missing it. [00:01:00] I feel like I mostly bring my phone on walks, one to listen to music, deeply important to me, and two for safety. Also very important to me, but I can do both of those things with this. It's kind of life-changing. Okay, that's all great, but what does it look like to actually use the app, watch for these things. I feel like a very cool spy whenever I speak into my watch on calls, but I use my AirPods when I'm out because it's easier for me to hear the other person and for them to hear me. As for messaging, [00:01:30] a bra slacked me on my first day with the watch to ask if I wanted to take a coffee break. This was the perfect time to try double tap a gesture that allows you to do stuff like respond to a message or answer a call without touching your watch. Yes, definitely can't wait. Send you Speaker 2: Said yes, definitely can't wait. Send, Speaker 1: I said send aloud, and then I was like, oh no, I'm using voice dictation, but you are so nice about it. I got a little better at dictation, but I still don't love it because I think it makes my messages [00:02:00] sound more serious than intended. My friends confirmed this, so I tried typing letter by letter instead. I just don't love typing on it because the keyboard's so small. Speaker 3: But don't you just use the swipe keyboard. Speaker 4: What? This Speaker 1: Is life changing, Sean. Speaker 4: Okay. Nope. Speaker 1: Did you see that? Speaker 4: I Speaker 1: Type to swear over swipe typing doesn't always [00:02:30] result in perfect messages either, so I still prefer texting on my iPhone if it's nearby, but I do appreciate that this watch allows me to see and reply to important messages even when my iPhone isn't nearby. It's worth noting that I have a 41 millimeter Apple watch because my wrist is pretty small, but there's a 45 millimeter option that probably would've been easier to type on. I love that I can pay for stuff without having my wallet or phone with me and use Spotify. I just wish I could search instead of only being able to choose from my or saved [00:03:00] songs because sometimes I want to listen to something totally random and yes, I'm team Spotify, sorry, apple Music. If you watched my last video where I swapped my iPhone for a Nokia flip phone, I don't have a great sense of direction, so having maps on my wrist was very helpful. Speaker 1: I never got used to the haptics telling me when to turn, so I just read the directions on screen, but I was still happy I had them, especially when I was out on walks without my phone. I felt so confident in what I could do with my Apple Watch alone [00:03:30] that I even went to a concert without my iPhone. Long story short, I definitely was more present, but I wouldn't go to a concert without my phone Again, I'll stick to my walks. I briefly lost my friend in the crowd and while I was able to call and text her on here, it would've been a lot easier to use my iPhone. In this instance, I've heard my Apple watch friends talk about closing their activity rings for years, and now I get it. So the truth is I was feeling pretty tired, just [00:04:00] not my best before this walk. Speaker 1: I saw the notification from my Apple watch being like, Hey girl, you haven't moved much today. And I was like, I know. I know, I know. But wanting to close those rings inspired me to get up and move anyway, and I truly have to say, no regrets. I have some fresh air. It's a beautiful evening. There really is something to this getting out and moving thing. Also, like how could this view not improve my day? Big full house moment. I also [00:04:30] liked the mindfulness app because the activities are short, but enough to take a beat and check in with myself. Once I realized movement and mindfulness were making me feel physically and mentally better, I was on a roll at least until the Monday scaries hit. Speaker 5: Was I perfect about completing my rings every day, doing mindfulness every day? Absolutely not. But did this watch encourage me to do those things for the first time in months, years? Yes, and I think that's [00:05:00] great. I think even though I didn't do all of it perfectly this week, the fact that it got me doing everything again is really great, and it makes me want to keep trying to continue to incorporate these things into my routine more and more until they just kind of become a part of it. I definitely deal with insomnia. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night just not been having the best sleep lately, so I'm very intrigued to see what this says. Goodnight. Speaker 1: I only got three days of sleep data and here's why. One, sleeping [00:05:30] with a watch is kind of uncomfortable, and two, sleep tracking doesn't happen automatically. Speaker 5: Siri, how Speaker 1: Much did I sleep last night? Speaker 6: No sleep data for 7:00 PM to 11:59 PM yesterday was found. Speaker 5: What did I do wrong? Speaker 1: You have to do a few things first, including setting a sleep schedule and a sleep focus mode in the health app on your iPhone. I didn't realize this until halfway through the week, which is why I'm missing some data, but the tracking I did get was helpful. [00:06:00] These numbers really motivate me to get closer to my goal of eight hours of sleep a night. I normally put my watch on around 10:00 AM and after a busy day of calling, texting, listening to music, working out and navigating, I'd be running kind of low on battery by around 10 or 11:00 PM and keep in mind that's after using cellular for a lot of those things. So I charged the watch for a half an hour before bed for sleep tracking. Then I'd charge it back to a hundred percent while I was getting ready the next day. I love how quickly it charges [00:06:30] up from my laptop, so having to do it daily wasn't a pain point for me, and when I wasn't relying on cellular as much and was staying closer to my iPhone, I could go about a day and a half before needing to charge my watch. Speaker 5: I'm really curious about this one. Has using the Apple Watch lowered my screen time? I'm kind of scared it hasn't, but let's see up 13% from last Speaker 1: Week. Speaker 5: Are you kidding me? Gosh, I've got some things [00:07:00] to work on still. Speaker 1: To reduce my screen time, I'm really going to need to go straight to the source, my iPhone and more specifically TikTok, if you want to see a video dedicated to setting boundaries with my smartphone and social media, comment below. But here's the thing. While the Apple Watch hasn't reduced my iPhone screen time, it has changed my relationship with self-care. It got me to exercise and practice mindfulness for the first time in a long time, and now I'm starting to incorporate those things into my routine and ultimately [00:07:30] prioritize my physical and mental health much more, and that is huge. I know that wearing an Apple Watch for a week only allows me to scratch the surface of what it can do. In fact, I'm still wearing it now. It's been two weeks and I'm learning more and more about how I like to use it each day. Speaker 1: First things first, I have changed my Apple Watch face to something that just feels so much more relevant to how I actually use this. I have my rings right here because this is probably what I click into the most. Look at how good they look. We're making progress. I also [00:08:00] have Spotify right under it because I am also clicking into this a lot. What do I have on it right now? Feather by Sabrina Carpenter. Great song. I also am always clicking into workouts to start my outdoor walks, and then we have phone and messages just for easy access. I also just ordered this watch band, which I am so excited about. I like the one I have right now, but I think this one will go well with my gold jewelry situation, and I just started using this camera remote feature. I used it today at the park. Look at this inception right now. [00:08:30] There are so many versions of me happening, but this is a game changer for those 0.5 wide angle iPhone back camera shots. It's just so much easier to frame them. I'll continue to make videos about my Apple Watch experience as I keep wearing it, so be sure to like and subscribe for more so you don't miss out. Thank you so much for watching.