I own a smart watch and it's awesome. Especially with kids, the ability to take calls and see notifications without taking my phone out of my pocket is invaluable. Often I don't have my hands free so having a screen always available on my wrist is super helpful.
In terms of battery life, I charge my watch while I shower and that's enough to keep it going.
Smartwatches may be an overlooked answer to the kid phone conundrum. Watches have the communication and location tracking that parents demand without the distraction of phones.
I still use a dumb watch (the classic Timex Ironman Triathlon) when I workout sometimes or when I'm coaching and I just need a stopwatch, I have yet to see a smartwatch that makes a very good stopwatch. Even some of the exercise specific smartwatches like the Garmin Forerunners don't do stopwatch as well as a Timex.
As a coach I've been seeing a lot of smartwatches on kids lately that are maybe a little young for a smartphone, they seem to be the go-to choice these days for parents to keep track of their kids. That seems like a decent fit, by the time the watch dies the kid will probably be old enough for a smartphone anyway.
i don't carry a watch. my phone tells the time. that's enough. same with phones replacing the camera, i look at smartwatches as a phone replacement. this of course requires that the smartwatch includes a sim card.
i agree, smartwatches that can't replace my phone are not interesting. but if they could replace the phone that would be a different thing entirely.
to put it differently:
i need a cheap portable phone for my children, one that i can control 100%. besides telling the time and setting alarms it must not have any features except calling or sending (and receiving) voice messages home.
nothing that attracts kids to play with the device and interfere with class.
it doesn't have to be a watch, but it needs to be small, lightweight, easy to carry, and appear uninteresting.
even a feature phone has to many features.
and it must be affordable to families with multiple kids
(less than $50)
those devices do exist, at that price level too. if only they were hackable so i could control what the kids can do with it...
I love my smart watch, i'm able to share my health info with my doctor (heart rate mostly) I can go running without my phone, I never miss a call/text from my wife, and it nags me to standup and stretch once in a while, and it tells me stupid jokes. I can also see the picture of my kids every time I look at the time.
Having kids solely use a smart watch with some amount of connectedness (GPS, phone calls, a game or two) seems healthier and considerably "less tech" than a full on smartphone.
My sister lives in a politically unstable region and swears by them as a tool to protect her children: one press of a button and help is on the way. Not having to dig in their pockets avoids raising suspicion with assailants.
As for myself? All tech conveys two qualities: cost and utility. Having emails buzzing on my wrist would likely cost me much more stress than any utility than the device could possibly hope to provide. No thanks. Smart watches are incredibly niche.
Asking an 11-year-old with ADHD to keep track of a dumb phone is just asking for trouble. The watch straps to their arm and can't be set down somewhere and forgotten.
There are $40 smart watches for kids that have a sim card and no location tracking. Perfect. They Dick Tracey when they want. We can let them play on the streets of Amsterdam and just call when it is time to come home.
Exactly this. It’s strapped to his arm. Airtags in the rest of his things also helps him find his lost items.
It’s an enabler! Smartwatch is better than dumb phone in nearly every way. Can phone? Check. Has GPS? Check. Can route public transport? Check. No tiktok? Check! Good battery life. No check :(
I work around that last one with a keychain battery charger.
This is not a substitute for teaching your kid what to do when lost (or watch is lost or nicked), but it gives them tremendous freedom. My son can navigate the world on his own now, all thanks to a bit of techno-magic on his wrist.
Why not get a smartwatch? Well, there are actually several reasons:
- price. It is still going to be more expensive than a cheap dumb watch
- lifespan. Electronics generally won't live more than 3-5 years on average. A good watch can outlive you and your children.
- too much feature. The same way some people still buy dumb phones because they just want to phone and text, some people only want time out of their watch (recent threads about iPod sells explain that pretty well, albeit for a different product).
- fashion, as you said. Some people want to look good, and a smartwatch with a digital screen (gasp!) may be against their sense of aesthetics
A smart watch actually works quite well for communication - urgent messages and calls. It's not a full replacement, but I've been able to keep my phone away without worrying that I'm missing out on anything important.
Most of my friends aren't tech people, and most of them own iPhones because they like the way they look and feel. One of them just swapped to a Nokia because she liked the colour. Phones are jewellery for a lot of people, they're all roughly functionally equivalent anyway. Why not smartwatches?
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