I don't think it's conspiracism territory when you have specific people/corporations with definite short to mid-term goals that are concrete and realistic. Elites hate not controlling mass media, been that way since movable type. If we went back to having town criers they'd pass anti-shouting laws.
One time an Amazon rep came to my fucking university class and told us about how the was always an empty chair at boardroom meetings that represents "the customer".
In that moment I knew I was not full of shit enough to hack it in the industry.
After Pebble got bought up and went under, I kept mine a good while. It eventually died or I lost the charger, I forget. I've had 'modern' smart watches since then, and they all just stressed me out and were too fiddly. I need buttons.
I'm not really interested in tracking calories burned or heart rate changes myself, so I preordered a cheap one in black like I used to have. Annoying that I'll probably have to pay an extra import duty on it, but I miss wearing a watch and this one is worth supporting - for the thing itself, but also because it's a meaningful story to me.
It might be one of those "you had to have been there" moments. It's 2014, Obama was reelected, Uptown Funk was on the radio (there used to be this thing called FM radio), and there you are - a happy young thing reading texts on your watch in broad daylight, right the middle of a conversation. You felt like a cucumber straight from the freezer.
I know all that sounds slightly laughable now, but there is an undeniable yearning for that zeitgeist compared to where we ended up.
They're on the list!