With Apple Watch, I look at the temperature just as often as the time

When humans first started keeping track of the time with clocks (vs. sundials or whatever), each individual person did not have one. There was one big clock in the center of town, usually mounted on a tower appropriately called a clocktower.

Then as clock technology got better and cheaper, smaller clocks were available in individual homes — maybe you would have one in the living room for the household.

Then eventually we moved to the pocket watch and ultimately the wrist watch. Most people could now just glance at their wrist and tell you exactly what time it was, to the exact minute.

I see the same thing happening with temperature. This used to be something that you could get only with a home thermometer, or on the TV or radio weather report, then on demand on your computer, then smartphone, and now once again, right on your wrist.

I check the temperature all the time, just because I can.

Any time I’m about to walk outside, I check. Any time I sense a shift in the air (it seems hotter/colder), I check. Any time someone makes a guess at the temperature, I check and correct them. And sometimes I just compulsively check for no good reason, just like I do with the time.

I have talked to other friends that wear an Apple Watch, and they all report similar habits.

We take knowing the time for granted, but it wasn’t always this way. It makes me wonder what other data points are destined to be checked by everyone all the time– both external (i.e. air quality, UV levels, etc.) and internal (i.e. heart rate, white blood cell count, etc.), just as easily and as often as the time.

P.S. I had hoped to see temperature and other “complications” available on the iPhone home screen as part of iOS 9 so that a larger population could experience what I am describing.