Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
T. S. Eliot
Despite more than four decades working in technology, I am not an up-to-date gadgets guy. I tend to hold on to devices long after most people have upgraded to the latest and greatest. I am a big believer in “If it still works.”
Case in point is my smart watch. For many years, I have been quite happy with my Apple Watch 3. It did everything I wanted it to do, and if the battery hadn’t stopped reliably working a few weeks ago, it would still be on my wrist.
Its demise led me to buy an Apple Watch 12. Not only did I get a battery that I can count on, I got a plethora of new features that make my old watch look like ancient history — which in these days of fast moving technology, it actually was.
Two weeks ago, my Apple Watch 3 displayed the time of day, tracked my bike rides and walks, and told me my heart rate. Call me easy-to-please, but that was pretty much all I needed it to do.
Some of the new things my current watch is capable of include:
- Take an EKG
- Determine blood oxygen level
- Measure cardio fitness and recovery time
- Monitor respiratory rate
- Extensive sleep analysis
- Track breathing disturbances (which can indicate possible sleep apnea)
- Micro-analyze walking
- Tell how many minutes of the day are spent in daylight
- Measure heart rate recovery time, walking average, and variability
The darn thing can even maintain a record of my sexual activity! That’s assuming I would allow that to occur. Some things are not meant for the digital world.
I admit that having such comprehensive health measurements has its appeal (and I have been taking advantage of a lot of what my new watch can do), but there is a dark side to all this newfound information. This is especially true when I allow my competitive side to take control and obsess over achieving the highest scores possible.
I used to wake up happy if I felt I had a good night’s sleep. Since the upgrade, I wake up and immediately check my iPhone’s Health App for a comprehensive look at my respiratory rate, heart rate, sleep duration, minutes of REM sleep, and breathing disturbances. Less than desirable values can immediately turn my happiness into a state of anxiety. I overthink how much time I spent sleeping on my back and getting up to pee. If I had only done [fill in the blank], would my numbers have been better? Health has now become a game that I feel compelled to win.
Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. Plato
To paraphrase the T. S. Eliot quote at the top of this article, “Where is the Life we have lost by burying ourselves in too much information.” Are we outsourcing our happiness to the charts and numbers of a soulless machine? How much of this newfound information is wisdom and how much is clutter?
Worse than clutter, how much of it is detrimental to my mental health? Where do I draw the line between being informed and being overwhelmed? When does the weight of all this data become too heavy to carry around?
Fun fact. My late brother, Bob, prided himself on never owning a smart phone. He used folding paper maps to find his way and never encountered a situation that required anything beyond his basic flip phone.
Last week, Linda and I attended a performance of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and I was shocked to learn that the program was only available via a QR code. While that was not a problem for Linda and me, I could not help but wonder what Bob would have done if he encountered that. I can only imagine what he would have said to the ushers.
It Doesn’t Stop at the Wrist
Outsourcing happiness doesn’t exist solely within the realm of my Apple Watch. Something as benign as my iPhone’s weather app can make or break my day.
Not that long ago, I could step outside my house, breathe in the morning air, and say to the world, “What a beautiful day.” Sadly, now that my weather app reports air quality, anything above a score of 50 on the air-quality index can turn that joy into apprehension about the damage this beautiful day might be doing to my health. I no longer trust my own senses to tell me how I should feel, and that’s a scary way to live.
My well-being and sense of worth should not be based on whether I hit the 10,000-step mark or maintain a 0.71 ft/sec step-down rate. Honestly, I was shocked to learn that the latter was something anyone would even care to know. What exactly am I to do with such an odd measurement? Linda already tells me that I walk too fast.
And don’t get me started on walking double support time! Until I looked it up, I had no idea what it was and if I should be concerned about my reading or not. Spoiler alert, I am fine, but I am already thinking about the ways I can improve my score. There’s that self-competitive streak rearing its ugly head again. Thanks again, Apple!
The Case for Real
I am not a Luddite and even though it typically takes me a while to upgrade my gadgets (only recently did I go from an iPhone 12 to an iPhone 17), I am not someone who rejects personal technology. The fact that I wear an Apple Watch demonstrates that. At the same time, I need to find ways to maintain humanness in all aspects of my life. That is why I play non-electric string instruments and still ride long distances on an analog pedal bike.
I am happy to allow technology to assist me, but only as a tool and never as an equal. While I may turn to ChatGPT or Gemini for the occasional answer, I continue to subscribe to and read a daily newspaper for a more human view of the world. There will always be a place for real people in my life.
I am only two weeks into this new watch, so hopefully some of my current obsessiveness will fade over time. However, that’s assuming that Apple doesn’t add even more health-reporting features, and we all know that’s not likely. I expect that my next watch upgrade will make today’s 12 look like child’s play. That’s something for me to look forward to as well as dread. Truly, there is a serpent in every paradise and these days we carry it around on our wrists or in our pockets.
I will say it again. Technology is a tool and not my equal.
Fun fact. I did some poking around the Internet to read up on the future of wearable device health monitoring and discovered that it includes everything from sweat analysis to disease prediction. The science fiction of the Star Trek tricorder is quickly becoming science real.
I am all for information as long as it does not come at the expense of knowledge. In other words, do not give me numbers and measurements that have no practical use. I am more than comfortable maintaining a little mystery in my life and do not need an answer (value, chart, notification, trend line, etc.) for everything.
Where is the app for that?
Thank you for reading.
The heart only beats for so long
the eyes, the lungs, the ears
they all do what they have been asked to do
before settling in for a long and restful sleep
Tomorrow comes at her own pleasure
she will not be rushed
today lasts until she has had her fill
and is ready to say goodnight
These are the simple truths of being
the rules by which we all must live and die
Trust, love, and dance
for as long as you are able
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