Monday Dispatch - 2024/01/22
Links and recommendations. Plus, the joy of a disconnected watch.
Welcome to Monday Dispatch, a bonus publication for premium subscribers with additional notes, deep dives, reading recommendations, and business updates.
Before getting started, a reminder to submit your questions for the premium subscribers’ AMA at the end of the month.
Links and recommendations
Last week, I stumbled upon The Joe Walker Podcast. It was a “Why didn’t I know about this?!” moment. Joe has a remarkable archive of interviews with great thinkers on wide-ranging topics. I’m working my way through them, but for the moment I highly recommend:
I haven’t published a books I read post for November or December, and I feel it’s too late to fix that (but do let me know if you really want to know). Still, I want to recommend three sci-fi stories:
How It Unfolds by James S.A. Corey (The Expanse). A short story on possibility, love, regrets, and the relentless cycle of civilization.
Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno. The story, or, rather, tragedy, of Palpatine’s master, Darth Plagueis. Reading this elevates the events of the prequel trilogy. Loved it.
Star Wars: Dark Lord - The Rise of Darth Vader also by James Luceno. The story of Darth Vader’s early day and how he adjusted to his new life in the suit. Includes duels as satisfying as Vader vs Reva.
I promise no more Star Wars recommendations in 2024. Time to move on to other fictional universes.
The joy of a disconnected watch
Why I replaced my Apple Watch with a Casio first, and a Garmin later.
When Apple released the Apple Watch, I eagerly pre-ordered one.
At the time, I rationalized it as a learning investment in what could have been a new frontier for software products. But the truth is, I was excited about having a new toy. I had yet to realize that new technology should be opt-in by decision not opt-in by default.
I liked the watch but found the red notifications dot quite distracting. The more I wore the watch and observed others with it, the more I felt unease with how easily distraction broke into a person’s attention through the watch.
Side note for Apple Watch users: In preparing for this post, I learned that it’s possible to disable the red dot. Either it was not possible then or I was too dumb not to look into it.
Clumsy as I am, I inevitably bunged it into something and broke the screen.
Out of curiosity (and to save some money), I decided not to buy one until I could actually argue why I’d need one.
The time never came.
Eventually, I felt the need for a timekeeping device on my wrist and got myself a glorious Casio F-91W. I loved it. No distraction. Thin and light. Plus, you’ll have to think about its battery only a few times during your lifetime.
A month ago, I decided it was time to put some serious effort into regaining a decent fitness level. I decided to get a device to motivate and help me with that goal.
As an iOS developer and past Apple Watch user, Apple Watch Ultra should have been my go-to choice.
But it wasn’t.
Here’s why.
I had two criteria for my search:
Something to help me during workouts and track metrics.
Something that could let my wife know where I was without having to carry a phone with me.
The Apple Watch fits both criteria. But it’s not the only device on the market.
In particular, most serious runners and swimmers, the two disciplines I’m interested in practicing, opt for Garmin watches over Apple. I say this based on anecdotal evidence from friends and search results on YouTube.
Garmin has one watch in its lineup with LTE connectivity and a rudimentary mechanism to track the wearer’s location during activities, the Forerunner 945 LTE.
Add to it that my phone carrier does not support Apple Watch data subscriptions, and switching carrier would have resulted in more than double the monthly price, and the choice was made.
One cool thing about the Garmin is that it has no app store. Or rather, it has an app store, but it’s crap compared to Apple’s one. You’ll mostly find apps to show different workout data on the watch.
And because it’s designed to work as a standalone workout watch instead of a connected smartwatch, I had no reason to forward my notifications to it.
Maybe I wore the Apple Watch when I wasn’t in the mindset to use it as a fitness device, but it always felt like a companion device for my iPhone.
With my new Garmin, it’s different. It feels like a truly standalone device. And I am enjoying it without any of the downsides I experienced when I had an Apple Watch.
I now have a smartphone for all my connectivity needs and the utility of carrying a computer in my pocket. And I have a watch that helps me with my fitness. The two don’t cross paths except for the occasional check in the Garmin Connect app to read workout data at a better resolution.
The point of this personal story is not to convince you to ditch your Apple Watch in favor of a Garmin. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure I would recommend my device at this point in time as myself and other Australian users are experiencing frustrating reboots during some activities.
But what I do recommend is the decision-making process I used, which resulted in opting into this device by decision instead of by default.
I “needed” a device for my workouts that could share my location without a phone connected to it. I found two candidates: the Apple Watch and the Garmin Forerunner 945 LTE. I picked the one that fulfilled the need and minimized the distraction overhead.
That’s the kind of thoughtful, intentional process I preach abstractly all the time. For once, it’s good to share how I also practice it.
How many of the devices in your life were opt-in by default? How many is it worth keeping?