My First Smartwatch, Aged 11

31 May 2020

As someone who is fascinated by technology and its societal impact, I often think back to the first piece of technology I remember owning as a child: A Casio Telememo 50 digital watch (photo from the Argos catalog I would have ordered it from).

Back in 1996, the idea of storing phone numbers on your wrist was a niche that probably only appealed to geeks like me. Now, in 2020 millions of people walk around with smartwatches and don't even realise they have their contacts synchronised to their wrist.

I can't find the exact model I owned as a child, the photograph above is the nearest I've been able to find on Amazon, and is unfortunately not as good.

Here's what I remember being so cool about my first smartwatch in 1996:

If my 11 year old self had any sense, he would have kept this watch, but alas it is sadly most likely to be landfill somewhere now. I've found a similar one on Amazon, but it has far fewer features and doesn't look anywhere near as cool.