2023 52 Card Project: Week 7: Watch

[pegkerr]

I'd mentioned in a recent collage, Rumphy, that I'd taken yet another fall. This is a serious matter for someone my age, especially since I live alone, and I did some research about what I might do to keep myself safe. Thanks to some kind generosity I've recently received, I now have a new iPhone and Apple Watch, and I have spent the last couple of weeks learning about the capabilities of this technology. Both the phone and the watch offer fall protection--if I should have an accident and fail to move, they can detect it. The device will ask if I am okay, and if I don't respond, it can alert both emergency services and my designated personal contacts.

I have a MacBook Plus, and I had an iPod touch, so I'm familiar with Apple products, but this is quite a step forward for me in the sophistication of technology. I'm still learning every day about new things that these gizmos can do. Cool camera, the ability to pay for things without carrying a purse, tracking my health data and exercise, etc. I'm playing with different watch faces, trying to figure out what information I want immediately available to me at the touch of a button.

The trade-off, of course, is that with all these cool new features, there are consequences, some of which are not immediately clear.

I am...ambivalent? Yes, for example, I am moving more/getting more exercise, but that is because I jump to my feet when my wrist buzzes (I try not to feel like a lab rat trained to react to a buzzer). Am I allowing technology to intrude into my life too much? I can pay without my wallet, but is my personal information safe? At the same time, I can see perfectly well how I am being manipulated by what is being offered. Wouldn't I like to have the ability to do this cool thing? That's fine...all I have to do is to turn on this simple toggle switch to allow my new iPhone and Apple watch to collect this data.

Have I allowed a corporation too much power over my personal information, including personal medical records?

Having the fall protection (and the ability to make a phone call by pressing a button on my wrist if I suddenly am incapacitated without my phone nearby) has given me a huge sense of relief. I didn't quite realize until now how much this has been a mental load that was worrying me. I love the new capabilities that are offered by the watch, and I'm sure you'll see a leap in the quality of these collages, with the improvement of my camera.

But I still recognize that I have voluntarily ceded some part of my privacy. I wish that this country had more of the privacy protections observed in the European Union.

That ambivalence is reflected in the card. For now, the trade-off seems worth it to me.

Image description: Background: semi-transparent array of Apple app logos on a black background. Three different Apple watch faces are arranged in a triangle on the top half of the card. Bottom: a silhouette of a woman, arms spread wide in freedom and exhilaration. A man's hand emerges from the upper right corner, holding the strings of a marionette which dangles in the center of the card, over the three watch faces and above the woman's silhouette.

Watch



Click here to see the 2023 52 Card Project gallery.

Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.

Click here to see the 2021 52 Card Project gallery.

Comments

[dreamshark]

Fabulous design, as usual. I really love the silhouette figure at the bottom - both the pose itself and the way it interacts with the rest of the design. I like the strong contrasts between the black elements and the pastel circles. And I think the interplay between the puppet master and the very happy and free looking pose at the bottom is a good portrayal of your ambivalent feelings.

Speaking of which, those ambivalent feelings are what I think of as the cool-creepy meter. Is it a little creepy that Amazon tracks every single thing I have ever ordered (or even looked at?). Yeah, a little bit. But when I want to reorder something, or just check back on when I bought a particular item and what I paid for it, is it cool that Amazon is helpfully keeping track for me? Yes, it absolutely is. I actually use that feature surprisingly often, and as far as I know I have suffered no harm from their tracking me. So for me that meter is at cool-creepy-cool. Others may feel differently.

I also have an Apple Watch, although not as advanced as yours. I don't mind at all when it reminds me to stand up once an hour. If I don't, I get painfully stiff really fast, and when I'm overly involved in something on my computer I do sometimes forget to move. I did get really tired of the watch reminding me to "breathe," however, and finally just turned that feature off. You can customize the notifications almost infinitely, which is great.

I'm not particularly concerned that Apple has a lot of my health data, although I get that some people are. I just don't see that as posing any threat to me. And even if it did, that is far outweighed by the fact that my dear watch correctly diagnosed last year's episode of persistent AFIB, which was mild enough that I never noticed the symptoms. However, I did feel markedly better as soon as I got it treated, so I'm very glad that Watch noticed and was so insistent about alerting me.

[synecdochic]

FWIW, your payment information is actually more secure through Apple Pay than handing over a credit card directly, because if someone intercepts the payment attempt (like with a credit card skimmer) or the merchant (who is way more likely to be less secure than Apple) is hacked, they only can access the one-time payment token Apple issued through Apple Pay and not your actual credit card information. We used to have a credit card compromise at least once a year or so from the card data being skimmed at the gas pump or at a store where they weren't as vigilant about guarding the physical credit card processing machine (or the skimmer was installed by an employee); we haven't had a single one since we switched to using Apple Pay via phone or watch.