Like so many Apple things, I thought AirPods were dumb until I got some (as a gift). I'd tried some Logitech wireless earbuds just a couple months before first trying AirPods. Those were dumb. God they sucked.

I've avoided the Watch for that reason. The little conveniences of various Apple-thingies are the sort of stuff you can't un-experience, and then you're stuck buying the damn things forever.

I think about this frequently while using my AirPods. It's annoying that we're all becoming accustomed to spending anywhere from like $130 to $250 on in-ear headphones that aren't guaranteed a particularly long lifespan, to replace wired headphones that an acceptable quality pair can be had for like $15.

But I'll be damned if the AirPods experience isn't far more convenient, and has me using them more than I ever did with wired headphones because they're so quick and easy to use. I can pop one in an ear and immediately I'm listening to a podcast while doing laundry. No cord tethering my head to my pocket, nothing to get snagged on a doorknob, it just works. When I pull one out of my ear it pauses, and resumes when I put it back in. When you only have one AirPod in, it knows and automatically converts the audio stream to mono so you still hear everything.

Still would be nice to have the 3.5mm jack back, but I certainly haven't felt a desire to go back to wired headphones since I got AirPods.

If it makes you feel any better, I think the watch is more of a "pickup or put down" device, especially if you do not usually use a watch. I sometimes wear it religiously, meaning all the time, and sometimes religiously, meaning only for an hour on Sundays and holy days ;).

I got an Apple Watch in 2019, and I don't wear it anymore. It was just another thing that needed to get charged every day, and none of the apps are very useful, and most of them are buggy and poorly supported.

I'm surprised people put up with daily charging in a watch where sleep tracking is a core feature.

Why is that surprising? I just charge mine while I’m getting ready in the morning and it last all day and does sleep tracking. My Ultra lasts multiple days on a single charge.

Mine is used for pretty much only the following:

- controlling Spotify - telling time - monitoring my health stuff - an easy to wear timer - getting filtered notifications of things I want to see without grabbing my phone to check - counting rows for knitting