That activity monitor caught my mom's cancer early enough that it was treatable. My looked at the activity, said no way, checked and her heart rate was too high so went in to get it checked.

Most activity monitoring isn't useful but the exceptions are very valuable.

For the aged or others outside normal healthy boundaries, wearable tech is a life-saving benefit. Otherwise it's a life-style option.

You never know when something will take a bad turn, age makes it more likely

I 'downgraded' to a cheap Casio late last year and I think i'm better for it.

Yeah "dumb" watches for me have been a real oasis in a world of increasingly obnoxious technology!

I am definitely more active as a result of owning my apple watch. My health is noticeably better. I get that it doesn’t work for everyone, and that’s fine.

Ironically, I like my Apple Watch because it gives me a lot of the things that my phone does without being so distracting. I can leave my phone behind and go walking while listening to an audio book, and have access to trail maps if I’m going somewhere new. I can see altitude, compass, Sun up and sun down all without having to use a phone, all of which I use on a weekly basis.

I've been cynical about wearables over the years, but the fitbit I received for Christmas has not only stimulated me to take more walks, the sleep monitoring functionality has made me much more intentional about my setting myself up for good sleeps. And it wasn't at all an issue to disable all the notifications stuff from it so that it's a monitoring device only.

I know I'm still in the honeymoon phase with it, but overall I really have been pleasantly surprised.