Fifty years ago, a phone was a way to hear someone else’s voice, allowing you to talk to someone in real time, even if you weren’t side by side.

Fifteen years ago, phones were meant to connect people with others regardless of where they were. Phones were a method of carrying communication in ways that were never possible before.

Today, a phone still does what it was originally meant to do: allow people to communicate.

Even though the method of communication has changed a lot over the years, the simple purpose of phones has not. The difference lies in how we communicate, but the original idea remains: A phone is a way to hear someone else’s voice.

Think about what a watch does. It’s supposed to give critical pieces of information at a single, momentary glance. The simplest watch gives the time, a crucial tidbit of data to organize our lives in this era of strict schedules.

In September, Apple announced its new Apple Watch. To many, Apple was revolutionary as always, building a product that nobody realized they wanted. Apple fans were happy that there was a new device that would be in the market in a few months.

Apple touts the Digital Crown, a crown just like one of a regular watch that allows users to control inputs. Apple also brags that the Watch allows users to communicate in new ways. The watch even allows you to send your heartbeat to other watch users. Of course, the Apple Watch has the ability to display time in pretty “watchfaces” that are customizable allowing Apple to stay true to what it believes is the original goal of the watch: to tell time.

To many, a perfect smartwatch would be a tiny computer that tells time on your wrist. From this perspective, the challenge is fitting the chips and circuit board in the minimal amount of space, as well as finding a user-friendly way of controlling a device no wider than 2 inches.

In this sense, what Apple has done is brilliant. They have the right hardware that makes their product a powerful tiny computer, as well as the right software that provides a user-friendly way to control it.

However, a smartwatch is not just a tiny computer that tells the time. Go back to the purpose of a watch: It’s a way to get crucial pieces of information at a glance. A watch is not an input device. It is meant to consistently output simple, easily understandable pieces of data that are relevant and useful.

Any advancement in technology is meant to better the past. A smartwatch can, and should, be better than a traditional watch. However, benefits brought with new technology should not change the purpose of the original device. In an attempt to digitalize a classic product, Apple has moved away from a watch’s original purpose.

Right now, there aren’t any smartwatches on the market that achieve the original purpose of a watch. Google’s Android Wear platform has been close — the way Google pushes data without user input is a first step towards a smartwatch being an output device — but it’s not close enough.

Phones have changed a lot over the last few decades, but they still serve their original purpose. If watches are going to change, they should change as phones have. I’m just not interested in buying a watch that is based on constant input from the user. A watch that would give me more information than just the time at a glance would be great. Until then, I will be without one.

Yoni Pinto is a Weinberg sophomore. He can be reached at [email protected]. If you want to respond publicly to this column, send a letter to the editor to [email protected].