I’ve got an old Timex sitting on my desk.
Nothing fancy.
No apps.
No sensors.
No notifications.
Just a simple watch that ticks away, day after day, without ever asking anything from me.
It’s on its third strap.
The lume only glows if you’ve been in the light.
It doesn’t buzz, vibrate, or try to coach me into being a better person.
It just tells the time — and because of that, it gets worn every single day.
Meanwhile, somewhere in a drawer, I’ve got a “smart” watch the size of a hockey puck.
I think I’ve worn it maybe ten times.
It’s heavy, it’s needy, and it tries way too hard to be important.
It’s the perfect example of what’s gone wrong with modern tech.
The Smartwatch That Could Have Been
When smartwatches first came out, I was excited.
Not for the apps or the sensors or the idea of taking calls on my wrist.
I was excited for one simple thing:
the ability to change the watch face.
Imagine that — a slim, elegant watch that could match your style with a tap.
A modern twist on a classic idea.
Instead, the industry gave us wrist‑mounted smartphones.
Thick.
Bulky.
Expensive.
Overstuffed with features nobody asked for.
A watch should be a watch.
Not a billboard for notifications
And It’s Not Just Watches
Phones are the same story.
Every year, more features.
More menus.
More settings.
More “AI‑powered” nonsense that solves problems we never had.
We’re drowning in options.
Drowning in updates.
Drowning in features that look good in a keynote but do nothing for real life.
Somewhere along the way, tech companies forgot that tools are supposed to make life easier — not busier.
Practical Is the New Elegant
There’s a quiet kind of beauty in things that just work.
A watch that tells time.
A phone that stays out of your way.
A device that doesn’t demand your attention every five minutes.
Practicality ages better than novelty.
Restraint is a design choice.
Simplicity is a luxury now — and it shouldn’t be.
We Don’t Need to Walk Away From Tech
I’m not saying throw your phone in the river and go live in a cabin.
Tech is incredible when it respects the user.
When it stays in its lane.
When it remembers what it’s supposed to be.
All I’m saying is maybe it’s time to unplug the fluff.
Dial back the noise.
Ask for fewer features and better ones.
Ask companies to stop reinventing the wheel and start refining it.
Maybe the world doesn’t need another device that can do everything.
Maybe it needs a few devices that do one thing beautifully.
A Little Breathing Room
That old Timex on my desk?
It’s not elegant in the modern sense.
But in its practicality — in its honesty — it’s more elegant than half the tech released today.
Maybe that’s the lesson.
Maybe slowing down isn’t a retreat.
Maybe it’s a return to sanity.
Because right now, we’re drowning in features nobody is asking for.
And it might be time to come up for air.
I’m usually the guy staring at the next piece of tech saying, “Wow, what a concept.” But lately that wow has turned into disappointment. We stopped building for betterment. We’re edging into tech overload. I spend twenty minutes signing into software just to use it for ten. That isn’t simplicity or user‑friendly design — it’s cluttered, complicated, and wasting my time.