Users have access to a growing ecosystem of devices (desktop, mobile and wearable) that can deliver notifications and help people to stay in contact. Smartwatches are gaining popularity, yet little is known about the user experience and their impact on our increasingly always online culture. We report on a qualitative study with existing users on their everyday use of smartwatches to understand both the added value and the challenges of being constantly connected at the wrist. Our findings show that users see a large benefit in receiving notifications on their wrist, especially in terms of helping manage expectations of availability. Moreover, we find that response rates after viewing a notification on a smartwatch change based on the other devices available: laptops prompt quicker replies than smartphones. Finally, there are still many costs associated with using smartwatches, thus we make a series of design recommendations to improve the user experience of smartwatches.

1. USER EXPERIENCE OF SMARTWATCHES AND
THEIR ROLE WITHIN MULTI-DEVICE ECOLOGIES
ALWAYS ON(LINE)?
Marta E. Cecchinato1, Anna L Cox1, Jon Bird2
1University College London & 2City University London
@martacecchinato

3. GLANCING
at information
(Schirra & Bentley, 2015
Cecchinato et al., 2015)
NOTIFICATIONS
2nd most popular use
(Pizza et al., 2016)
ALWAYS ON
vs. smartphone
(Pizza et al., 2016)
RELATED WORK

4. RIGHT TO
DISCONNECT
FROM
TECHNOLOGY

5. SMARTWATCHES:
or

6. 1.
SMARTWATCH
NOTIFICATIONS
Which do I want?
3.
CROSS-DEVICE
EXPERIENCE
Where do I reply?
2.
MANAGING
AVAILABILITY
Do I reply now?

7. METHOD
AUTOETHNOGRAPHY
2-month diary
60 friends and family
(34f, 26m, aged 12-78)
INTERVIEWS
17 participants
Aged: 23-68 (median: 31)
All male with tech jobs
From UK, USA & Australia

8. PARTICIPANTS’
SMARTWATCHES
Average
ownership:
8 months
Pebble (n=9
of which one
Pebble Steel)
Moto360 (n=3)
LG G watch (n=2)
Basis Peak (n=1)
Samsung Gear
(n=3, two Gear S
and one Gear Fit)
**Apple Watch
(n=1)

9. 1.
SMARTWATCH
NOTIFICATIONS
Which do I want?
3.
CROSS-DEVICE
EXPERIENCE
Where do I reply?
2.
MANAGING
AVAILABILITY
Do I reply now?

10. PRIORITY
“customising your wearable […]
gives you control. It feels nice to
have control over technology” [P10]
WHAT NOTIFICATIONS
DO I WANT?
CONTEXTUAL
“I have from time to time stopped
certain notifications… [for example]
when I've been out for dinner with a
friend or something like that.” [P4]

11. BUT MORE NUANCED
WHAT NOTIFICATIONS
DO I WANT?
“Still, I don't have the luxury to
decide I want emails only from this
specific person” [P10]
“Twitter sort of lets you enable
notifications for certain people
[…] that's good. On the other hand
with WhatsApp […] I would have to
go to WhatsApp and [disable] the
notification, but what if I had
something important come in?” [P6]

12. WEARING HABITS
“I try to use it while I'm driving [or
when] I'm in the office, but once
I'm home I can just disconnect
from my smartwatch […] to stay
away from the phone [and
business emails]” [P8]
WHEN DO I WEAR MY
SMARTWATCH?

13. 1.
SMARTWATCH
NOTIFICATIONS
Which do I want?
3.
CROSS-DEVICE
EXPERIENCE
Where do I reply?
2.
MANAGING
AVAILABILITY
Do I reply now?

14. AWARENESS CUES
“another nice feature of [the
smartwatch], is that […] you can
read the message without
them seeing that you've seen
it so then they don't feel
offended that you are ignoring
them.” [P11]

15. EXPECTATIONS
“I know you have this
watch and you see my
messages!”
"I don’t receive
notifications
from all apps”NON-USER,
friend
USER, me
Hey, how are you?
…
FROM AUTOETHNOGRAPHY

16. 1.
SMARTWATCH
NOTIFICATIONS
Which do I want?
2.
MANAGING
AVAILABILITY
Do I reply now?
3.
CROSS-DEVICE
EXPERIENCE
Where do I reply?

17. URGENT REPLIES
“I usually only reply on my watch if
it's an element of urgency or it's
very short and easy to reply.” [P3]
“It makes those communications
simpler and in some cases more
polite. […] Just because someone
wants to be synchronous doesn't
mean that I am going to be .” [P13]
TO WHAT DO I REPLY?

18. LAPTOP vs PHONE
“I'm far more likely to respond if
I'm on my laptop and it's way more
easy to type on that. […] Whereas if
I'm away from my laptop I can't be
arsed to get the phone out and
send something.” [P1]
WHERE DO I REPLY?

19. 1.
SMARTWATCH
NOTIFICATIONS
3.
CROSS-DEVICE
EXPERIENCE
2.
MANAGING
AVAILABILITY
SMARTWATCHES AS
MICROBOUNDARIES
TO GAIN CONTROL OVER AVAILABILITY

20. MICRO-BOUNDARIES
User-strategies to shift from mindless interactions with
technology, to more conscious ways of engaging with a
device and the information it provides.
Cecchinato et al. 2015
Cox et al., 2016

21. NEED FOR DECENTRALISED NOTIFICATIONS

22. USER EXPERIENCE OF SMARTWATCHES AND
THEIR ROLE WITHIN MULTI-DEVICE ECOLOGIES
ALWAYS ON(LINE)?
Marta E. Cecchinato (“check-in ato”)
@martacecchinato