I own a Smart Watch; specifically a Samsung Galaxy Watch 46MM (this is the "OG" version of the Galaxy Watch). I've had one now for several years, dating back to the FitBit (which I finagled a way to receive notifications before they entered the smart watch game, too). My primary intention is for tracking fitness, and the GW does a pretty good job of it, the FitBit as well before that.

But one wrinkle that bothers me is that I depend on it now to receive notifications from my phone. I prefer to keep my phone¹ on "vibrate" mode as I find it less obtrusive and obnoxious. The problem is that I don't feel the vibrations in my pocket! When not wearing a smart watch I've even missed calls because I couldn't feel the vibration of the phone ringing (!). So, I wear the smart watch to avoid missing anything. When I'm not wearing a smart watch and opting for a regular watch, I have to turn the sounds on.

I wish this wasn't the case, but that's the way it has to be. It bothers me that I'm so dependent on the smart watch because I often opt to skip wearing it for fewer distractions. Ironically, having to turn sounds on usually means I get more distractions because the sounds interrupt whatever is going on. If I were able to feel the vibrations, then I could choose to ignore the notification and come back to it.

I can do the same thing with the sounds on, but I mean that the sound itself would be distracting if I were having a conversation with someone or doing something. The noise just cuts into everything.

Does anyone else have this problem with their phone? Is the vibration motor simply not good on Samsung phones? I swear I didn't have this problem before - I mean I went for a long time without a smart watch.

I typed this while wearing my excellent Timex IRONMAN™ digital watch I purchased from Amazon a while back.

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1. Samsung Galaxy S21+↩