> Seconding smartwatches. There's no reason to habitually check my phone (and risk getting distracted) when my watch tells me if I have notifications.

I don't get it. This functionality is so basic that it's always been part of the phone itself. What's the watch doing?

The watch is doing “not having social media apps or a web browser to lose an hour with after you check the notification”.

It's definitely not doing that; once you get something important, you need to handle it by using your phone.

The problem a lot of people have with doom scrolling is that there's basically no barrier to doing so except shear will power. Making the process more inconvenient, even if just by having to stand up and walk over to the phone, can make a substantial difference. If the notification is not worth the walk over to the phone, then the notification ceases to be a prompt to go doom scroll.

Hence you do not have carry your phone with you. The watch lets you be reachable in case of emergencies or basic communications, such as audio calls.

It allows you to separate certain essentials (getting possibly important notifications, calls) from temptations that you want to avoid (twitter/X, instagram, tic tok, etc...)

Yes, that functionality is so basic that it has always been part of the phone itself. If I get an unimportant notification, my phone plays a quiet beeping sound. If I get a wechat message, my phone plays a louder ringing sound. I can tell the difference from across the room. I can tell the difference while the phone remains in my pocket. So could you. Distinguishing sounds that were never similar to begin with is not a difficult task.

What is the watch adding? Were you having trouble distinguishing calls from notifications before?

The watch isn't "adding" anything, and that's the point. It's taking away unnecessary capabilities and only giving me what's important.

If I get a message in the middle of a meeting, I can figure out if it's just my mechanic saying my car is ready to be picked up. Or if it's a severe medical emergency. All this without bothering anyone else with audible alerts or getting distracted by any number of things on my phone.

If you have your own system, that's fine. I'm not saying this solution is for everyone. All I'm saying is that it's a useful solution for at least one person in this world.

Not all notifications from the same source, have the same importance. Not only the content can vary, but also the context.

> I can tell the difference while the phone remains in my pocket. So could you.

The solution might not make sense to you, because you apparently don't have the issue. For some people, a phone making a sound in their pocket, ANY sound, or vibrating, or just merely existing, is an invitation to do some of that sweet sweet scrolling that releases the good chemicals.

A smartwatch (like the Apple Watch) is, at this moment, just smart enough to allow you to interact with simple yet "smart" (i.e. not phone/SMS) apps, like WhatsApp, maps, music, payments, tasks, exercise, but inconvenient enough so that procrastinating on your watch just isn't a thing.

I achieved this by disabling almost all notifications. There is only instant messaging, calendar events and bank transactions