Microsoft Thinks Its New Smart Band Will Help You Pay More Attention To Life

Here’s the first commercial for the Microsoft Band. You wear it on your wrist and it can help you keep your appointments, remind you of stuff to do, and send text messages to friends and family.

It also, according to Microsoft, will make your life so much better because you’ll finally be able to put down your phone and pay attention to the world around you. I’m sure the irony isn’t totally lost on them that they are encouraging you to add to your electronic arsenal in order to spend less time engaging with it, but they make the argument anyway.

Obviously, if it wasn’t for laptops, phones and tablets, we’d spend most of our time going on long hikes and getting supportive messages from our proud parents. I’d like to be clear: these things are very unlikely to happen in life no matter what you own. I don’t go on long hikes because I’m generally lazy, and my parents don’t send me supportive messages because of our long, dysfunctional history of communication.

IF, however, a product would become available that would make these things possible, I’d be all for it. I guess that “product” is just called adrenaline (for the hiking) and humility (for the parents).

Thanks for bringing out all these buried feelings in me, Microsoft!