智能手機還是電子枷鎖

I hate the new Apple Watch. Hate what it will do to conversation, to the pace of the day, to my friends, to myself. I hate that it will enable the things that already make life so incremental, now-based and hyper-connected. That, and make things far worse.

我討厭新上市的蘋果手錶。討厭它將會對交談、生活的節奏、我的朋友以及我自己產生的影響。我討厭它會提升那些已經讓生活變得如此繁瑣、急功近利和超級互聯的東西的效用。除此之外，除了以上這些，它還會讓情況變得糟糕許多。

This has nothing to do with Apple. We can still be friends. I’m writing on a MacBook Air, my constant companion since I kissed off my hometown Microsoft-programmed clunker for the sleek and far less needy Mac some time ago. I’m closer to my iPhone 6 than to some of my siblings — you never call, you never text, you never share, not a selfie in six months.

這與蘋果公司無關。我們還是可以做朋友的。我正在一臺MacBook Air上寫下這些文字。自從一段時間以前我淘汰了家鄉生產的那臺微軟系統的舊電腦，換成這臺漂亮且遠不會那麼需要照顧的Mac之後，它一直是我的好夥伴。我與iPhone 6的關係比我與一些兄弟姐妹的關係還親密——從來不給他們打電話、發短信，或是分享東西，六個月裏連張自拍都沒有。

No, my animus for Apple’s smartwatch — excuse me, wearable technology — is for what it will do to us. Things are too complicated as it is. At dinner with friends, or in a meeting that I’m supposed to care about, when can I look at my phone? Who’s phone-ignore worthy, and who’s not? At what point is looking down rude? And how long into a conversation till all sides get to call a truce and take a screen dive?

不，我對蘋果智能手錶的厭惡——不好意思，應該是可穿戴設備——在於它會對我們產生何種影響。生活已經夠複雜的了。在與朋友吃飯時，或是在我應該重視的一個會議上，我什麼時候可以看手機？誰重要到讓我不看手機，誰沒那麼重要？什麼時候看手機是不禮貌的？交談進行了多長時間之後，各方纔可以休息一下，看一眼手機屏幕？

I say this as an information obsessive. I wish I could say recovering information obsessive. Like most of us, I’m in need of digital detox, not a fresh hit. Those restroom breaks at restaurants were not about bladder relief. God knows how many times I’ve sneaked away from the table just to peek at a football score, a “Daily Show” clip, a text, a photo or email, my Amazon book number. What a miserable wretch. But it could be worse: I have a friend who texts while skiing.

我認爲這是一種信息強迫症。我希望我能說這種信息強迫症可以恢復。就像我們中多數人一樣，我需要戒除網癮，不是來一劑讓我更上癮的東西。我們在吃飯時去洗手間根本不是因爲人有三急。天知道我有多少次從餐桌上偷偷溜出來只是去爲了看一眼球賽的比分、《每日秀》(Daily Show)的片段、一條短信、一張照片或電子郵件，還有我的亞馬遜圖書訂單。多可悲啊。但情況還可以更糟：我有一個朋友一邊滑雪一邊發短信。

Apple says its smartwatch, which it rolled out at one of its Dear Leader-like events in San Francisco this week, will make interactions between human and screen less complicated, and less rude. Instead of reaching into pocket or purse in front of someone, the user will just glance at the wrist. In fact, Apple calls the new feature in which the watch is touched to access the Internet a “glance.”

蘋果本週在舊金山一場致敬偉大領袖似的活動中發佈了這款手錶。蘋果說，它的智能手錶將讓人與屏幕的互動不那麼複雜，不那麼不禮貌。用戶不需要在他人面前把手伸進口袋或包包，只需掃一眼手腕就行了。實際上，蘋果把碰一下手錶就接入互聯網的新功能就叫做“Glance”（瞥一眼）。

Just a glance, nothing rude there. Oh, really? Remember how off-putting it was when George Bush the elder checked his watch during a question period from the audience in a presidential debate? It may have cost him the election in 1992.

只是掃一眼，這可沒有什麼不禮貌的。噢，是嗎？還記得喬治·布什(George Bush)在總統辯論中接受觀衆提問時看手錶的動作是多麼讓人惱火嗎？這可能就是他輸掉1992年大選的原因。

People check their phones about 150 times a day. Now, imagine how many glances they’ll take with all the information in the world on their wrists. Imagine how many people will attempt to drive while glancing, to walk while glancing, to talk while glancing, to make love while glancing.

人們一天看手機約150次。現在，想象一下，當全世界的信息都在手腕上展示的時候，人們會掃上多少眼。想象有多少人會試圖在開車時掃一眼，在走路時掃一眼，在聊天時掃一眼，在做愛時掃一眼。

To the complaints that our smartphone addiction has produced a world where nobody talks much anymore, nobody listens and nobody reads, you can add a new one with the smartwatch: nobody makes eye contact.

一些人抱怨，手機引發的上癮讓這個世界變成了沒人長時間講話、沒人傾聽，沒人閱讀的地方。有了智能手錶之後，這些抱怨中可以加上一條：沒人進行目光接觸。

Tim Cook, the Apple C.E.O., seems like a decent and likable guy — no tech overlord in a Darth Vader suit. But his presentation of the new watch on Monday creeped me out, and offered a road map to a world I’m not sure I want to join.

蘋果CEO蒂姆·庫克(Tim Cook)似乎是一個討人喜歡的正派人——不是一個穿着達斯·維達(Darth Vader)式服裝的科技魔頭。但他週一展示的新手錶把我嚇壞了，而它給世界提供的方向，我也不確定是否想要加入。

“The Apple Watch is the most personal device we have ever created,” he said. “It’s not just with you, it’s on you.” Ewwww. It sounds like a digital dog collar, complete with an anti-flea component. From here on out, there is no down time, and no excuses for reality escapes. You are connected, 24/7.

“蘋果手錶是我們推出的最私密的設備，”他說。“你不只是帶着它，而且是戴着它。”咦喲。這聽起來就像是一個數碼狗項圈，加上一個防跳蚤的零部件。從此以後，再沒有放鬆的時間，再沒有逃離現實的藉口。你永遠都在線，一週七天，一天24小時。

Cook tried to humanize Apple’s latest culture-disrupter. You can talk to your wrist — it’s a phone! You can check your heartbeat — it’s a doctor! And if you don’t adequately exercise during the week, your watch will remind you of your failure — it’s a nag!

庫克試圖讓蘋果顛覆文化的最新產品人性化。你可以對着手腕說話——它是電話！你可以檢查心跳——它是醫生！而且如果你在一週當中沒有進行足夠的鍛鍊，你的表會提醒你——它還嘮嘮叨叨的。

He seemed most rapt in describing how much closer together the Apple Watch will bring us all. “You can tap your watch and get your friends’ attention,” he said. Ah, there’s a rich relationship. I can think of a number of places once considered off-limits for cellphone intrusions — the classroom, the dinner table, the bathtub — where the watch can interrupt. And who’s to know: it’s only a glance.

他似乎尤其注重描述Apple Watch能在多大程度上讓我們所有人變得更親密。“輕輕敲一下手錶，就能引起朋友的注意，”他說。啊，這聯繫可真密切。我能想到很多曾經被認爲不受手機干擾的地方：教室、餐桌和浴缸。但現在，在這些地方進行的活動手錶都可以打斷。畢竟誰知道呢：只用瞥一眼。

There is some evidence that heavy smartphone use makes you dumber. The theory is that a having the world at the other end of a mobile search makes for lazy minds, while people who depend less on their devices develop more analytical skills.

一些證據表明，大量使用智能手機會讓人變得更笨。相關理論認爲，用移動搜索瞭解世界會使大腦變得懶惰，而不那麼依賴設備的人，會形成更多分析技能。

Add to this concerns about privacy: that the watch is a tracking device, which sends all your personal information to a central database — a corporate control center that already knows far too much about the preferences and habits of smartphone users.

除此之外，還有對隱私的擔憂：這款手錶是一臺追蹤設備，會將你所有的個人信息發送給一箇中央數據庫。那是一個商用控制中心，已經掌握了太多有關智能手機用戶的偏好和習慣的信息。

It’s encouraging that smartwatches, thus far, have not sold very well. This could be because many of them look like those fluorescent wrist bands that people have to wear at all-inclusive resorts in order to line up at the buffet table. Or perhaps people are repulsed, as I am, by this most intimate of invasions.

鼓舞人心的是，迄今爲止智能手錶賣得並不是非常好。這可能是因爲，許多智能手錶看上去像那種發亮的腕帶。在全包式度假勝地，人們爲了等自助餐的位子，不得不戴那些腕帶。也或許人們和我一樣，厭惡這種最親密的入侵。

Backlash is inevitable. A few days ago, Patrick Pichette, Google’s chief financial officer, announced that he was retiring because he wanted to spend more time offline. He had this epiphany, he wrote, while watching the sunrise from Mount Kilimanjaro with his wife — an experience Apple has yet to be able to meld to a wristwatch.

遭到強烈反對是不可避免的。幾年前，谷歌(Google)首席財務官帕特里克·皮切特(Patrick Pichette)宣佈他將退休，因爲他希望有更多的線下時間。他寫道，他是和妻子在乞力馬扎羅山看日出時產生這一頓悟的。目前，蘋果還無法把這種經歷融入手錶中。