I wear silicone ring in the gym, in my workshop, and working on or sailing boats and a platinum band when I'm not doing manual stuff. I could wear no ring at all, but I don't particularly like the optics of an obviously married man with tan lines on ring finger not wearing his ring: I think it makes you look like there's something wrong with you - recently divorced at best, a sleazy creep at worst. Should I care? No, but I'm not that well adjusted. Silicone is basically as safe as no ring at all for almost any manual or physical activity. Metal rings offer an entire exciting catalog of spectacularly horrible accidents for the low price of one tiny slip.

So, yes, it's literally a social signal that I'm in a relationship :)

That is what I wear - when I bother wearing one at all. Or sometimes the cheaper rubber rings, depending on what is in stock at the store. They are cheap enough that I don't worry about losing them. When (not if!) they break I just get a new one. My gold ring stays hidden at home where I don't have to worry about it.

I've never got used to the feel of a ring on my fingers though and now I do without. I know I'm married and girls never "hit on me", so I really don't need it for anything.