Yesterday I got a text message from someone at 10AM and I didn’t get back to them until 4PM. As far as texting etiquette goes, that’s pretty rude, especially considering that I was able to reply in 3 words and answer their question.

This happens to me more often than I would like, and it’s because I, like so many people out there, have a job that doesn’t really give me much time with my phone. My iPhone is in my pocket all day, but I can’t feel it vibrate if I’m walking around (I do 20,000+ steps in a normal day of work), and I am usually so busy that I don’t even check it for hours on end. Because if this, I spend 40+ hours a week being a poor SMS respondent. Not because I don’t care about being responsive, but because I simply don’t know that I’ve missed anything.

My time with a Pebble gave me a taste of how receiving notifications on my wrist impacted my life, and they were great! I was never as good at replying to incoming messages as I was when I had my Pebble buzzing my wrist every time a new message came in. Even with Pebble’s remedial notification system, I was able to see if a message needed a response or whether it was just some silly image or gif that I could look at later. It made my life better by enabling me to better communicate with the people I care about.

That’s huge! If a Pebble was able to do that for me with it’s extremely limited iOS integration, imagine what the Apple Watch with it’s deep integration is going to be like.

With all the amazing things we’ll be able to do with the Apple Watch in just a couple weeks, this simple feature is by far my most anticipated part of the watch. I wrote a piece last week called "The Human Reason for Wanting Nicer Tech" and I described why having a nice camera is important to me and how it makes my life better. The same holds true for the Apple Watch. Being more reliable with my communication is going to make be a better husband, friend, and family member, even if only a little better. The rest of the Watch’s functionality is just the cherry on top