The Apple Watch Might Impact Our Daily Lives More Than You’d Think

I know I’ve already theorized on how the Apple Watch could change mobile, but this time I’d like to talk about how it could affect our day-to-day lives. And make no mistake, there’s a good chance it’s going to change a few things around here.

One of the biggest changes we’re going to see because of the Apple Watch is company policies for retailers, restaurants, and pretty much any other place that caters to the public. Most places already prohibit their employees from bringing phones onto the floor since, for example, it usually doesn’t look good if a cashier is fiddling with their iPhone when they should be ringing people out. Now that people are going to start wearing the Apple Watch, you can bet a lot of places are going to ask workers to keep their timepieces in their lockers or otherwise off the floor. I don’t imagine having a theater usher ceaselessly messing around with their watch would go over much better than if it were a phone, do you?

By extension, the Apple Watch could end up affecting employee productivity to the point where businesses that don’t directly interact with the public might still have to institute some kind of limit. Granted I imagine most offices discourage using one’s iPhone while on the clock, but it’s going to be a lot easier to sneak a peek at your wrist and jump back to work once the boss shows up than it is to hastily tuck a phone back into your pocket or desk drawer. Conversely, the potential functionality of the Apple Watch could end up becoming such a boon that some offices encourage their use or even issue one to their employees. It really depends on the business.

Reminders will also be far more useful, since it’s much easier to accidentally (or purposely) miss a notification if your phone is silenced or in another room. When your watch is tied into your itinerary it’s going to be a lot harder to ignore the blaring alarms coming off your wrist. Whether or not this leads to an era of never forgetting to pick up milk on the way home ever again remains to be seen, since it still relies on people making the effort to set up reminders in the first place, but the potential is definitely there.

I also touched upon the unfortunate side of things last time when I contemplated the idea of thievery a bit, and despite it being a depressing topic I think the Apple Watch will affect things here as well. For better and for worse. What I mean by “worse” is that you can’t really hide an Apple Watch like you can an iPhone. Telltale earbuds aside, if you’ve got an iPhone in your pocket it won’t really be attracting the attention of potential thieves. An Apple Watch though, that’s going to be on your wrist for all to see. Of course it is more difficult to remove a watch than it is to yank a phone out of someone’s hand. On the “better” side of things, the near-constant health monitoring could be used to automatically call for help if you’re in trouble (medically or otherwise), as I’ve mentioned before.

Then there’s the issue of how we physically move through a space. Yeah, I know, it’s weird to think about but anyone who’s ever worn a wristwatch can tell you that you’ll need to start paying attention to where you swing your arm. Banging your watch against things is an extremely common occurrence even if you’re used to wearing one, and people are going to want to be extra careful not to whack their Apple Watch against the corner of a desk or something. It’s not going to lead to a country-wide baby-proofing (padded table edges, etc) or anything like that, but Apple Watch owners are going to want to be a lot more conscious of their movements once they’ve strapped their wrist-phone-thing on. And they’ll want to make sure not to forget to take it off when they take a shower or otherwise have to douse their hands in liquids.