<p>I just came from a physical therapy session where there was a young girl -maybe 12 or 13- working out next to me. Her PT couldn’t see the clock on the wall from where he was standing and asked her what time it was. I was shocked as she stared at the analog clock for a minute and then pulled out her phone and looked at it to tell him what time it was. He asked her if she could read the clock on the wall and she replied that she could not: “Who needs to? We have phones. You’re old-fashioned.”</p>
<p>Is this the wave of the future? Our youngest is 18 and has no problem with analog clocks. I guess they are becoming useless along with cursive. Pretty soon, no one will be able to tell time from their family heirloom grandfather clocks, or read the letters that their grandparents wrote to each other. Sad.</p>
<p>Yep, my 18 year old D has trouble with clocks. We have many in our house, and she still asks me what time it is. Not really that sad to me, but I don’t care about them losing cursive either. No family heirloom clocks here, or letters from grandparents to each other.</p>
<p>3 years ago, I might have agreed that analog clocks & watches were on their way out, however D1 wanted a nice wristwatch for her HS graduation present and S1 (only 16) wanted a specific Citizen wristwatch for his last birthday. </p>
<p>They both said its sometimes not easy to pull out their phone to check the time (& not allowed in HS). They’ve grown up with analog clocks on the wall in our family room, living room and in school. I am surprised a teenager hasn’t had a clock on their school wall.</p>
<p>I took a look around our house, and we don’t have a single analog clock. We don’t have a wall clock, and all the appliance and table clocks are digital.</p>
<p>As far as cursive is concerned, yes, we learned cursive in school. But after about 3rd grade, after the cursive drills, everyone developed their own method of cursive writing, some which were legible and some which weren’t. I can read and write cursive, yet I cannot read the handwriting of a number of my ancestors. Merely being taught cursive doesn’t mean you’ll be able to read the letters your grandparents sent.</p>
<p>My own handwriting is a combination of print & cursive. I developed my ‘fusion’ style over the years, as I think some lower cursive letters are a wasted effort, specifically: b & z. Don’t get me going on the upper case - some bear no resemblance to the printed counterparts!</p>
<p>*I prefer analog clocks because it gives me a better sense of time. *</p>
<p>Perhaps if you weren’t lazy, you wouldn’t need analog to understand what time it is?
Or maybe others have just found a way that works for them just as you have found a way that works for you?</p>
<p>I distinctly remember people saying “In 5-10 years, no one of (my) generation will be able to read analog clocks!” </p>
<p>Well, nearly 20 years later, I don’t think I’ve met a single person my age or younger that can’t read an analog clock. Do these people exist? Absolutely, but I’m sure there are people of all generations that can’t read them. Yes, most of us use digital clocks. Yes, they’re generally easier. No, you’re not lazy if you prefer one over the other. </p>
<p>Personally, I hate analog clocks. My vision tends to blur a little bit so I will occasionally have to blink several times before I can see the shorter arm. If they’re not close to the same size, it’s less of an issue.</p>
<p>@Ixnay They’ll be forever handicapped! Heaven forbid those youngsters ever major in physics or any join a career that is reliant on physics. </p>
<p>Chedva’s post reinforced a thought that ran through my mind while reading this thread. One’s ability or tendency to read an analog clock is (somewhat) dependent on the clocks in one’s household. In Chedva’s household they don’t have a single analog clock. To me, this is simply preposterous! To think of a household without an analog clock is a bit hard for me because in my house we have at least over 15 analog clocks. I don’t have an analog clock in my dorm room, but I know, when I get an apartment, I will have analog clocks. They are more aesthetically pleasing to me.</p>
<p>Goodness, perhaps it is just laziness.
Again, I have left out context in my posts. I think it’s lazy when people refuse to learn analog clocks because they have to “look at two things at once” thus making it “too hard to think about time”. I think it’s lazy to say that your child shouldn’t work on learning time because they “got the hour hand and minute hand mixed up” after a week of the introduction to time. I have heard these responses from countless of teens and parents of preschoolers and young children. </p>
<p>Mentally, I think in an analog clock format. I see a time on a digital clock and I imagine the time on an analog clock. Analog clocks have the “entire time” in the day right in front of your eyes. It gives me a better sense of time because I am able to see the relation of the current time to the past and future hours.</p>
<p>It’s seems to be common for people to be up in arms about skills from our childhood that are now outdated, and thinking that “these young kids” need to learn the same stuff we did. Cursive writing isn’t needed any more, because we just don’t write that much by hand these days. Except for writing your signature on a legal document, what do you need cursive for?</p>
<p>A recent posting on my Facebook news feed depicted a classroom of students using their smartphones and tablets to photograph the PowerPoint display the teacher had on the screen. The caption read, “You may now take notes.” The mother who posted it wrote, “For those of you who still know how to use a #2 pencil.” Although she was implying that taking notes the old fashioned way was far superior to the new technology of today, I maintain that today’s technology works for today’s kids, so embrace it.</p>
<p>It’s especially useful, Fly, to those with learning differences. Growing up with hearing problems, I would’ve LOVED to have been able to just record a lecture on a small device like a smart phone and played it back later.</p>
<p>I dislike the idea that somehow new technology means we can’t learn old skills. You can take pictures of the whiteboard AND still know cursive.</p>
<p>We don’t have analog clocks in my household. Haven’t since I can remember. We also don’t have digital clocks on walls.</p>
<p>How strange. As a young person myself, I can say that I’ve never met a single person who couldn’t read an analog clock, including small children. Analog clocks are still ubiquitous.</p>
<p>However, if the day did come that the majority of people couldn’t read analog clocks, I’d be completely indifferent. I don’t think the loss of a ‘skill’ that is no longer useful is something to lament.</p>
<p>My D has a tough time with analog clocks. She’s 23. S is 25 but reads analog clocks just fine. It’s a matter of exposure–S had much better teachers than D, sadly, and catches concepts more quickly. D is more visual, so thought she’d catch on to analog clocks sooner than S.</p>
<p>I know quite a few kids who can’t (or have trouble) reading analog clocks.</p>
<p>I’m sure that, if there had been an Internet back then, we’d have had a thread complaining about the death of the slide rule. How many of you know how to use one? Are you “just lazy”?</p>
<p>In every generation, skills that were once necessary aren’t anymore. (Shoe a horse lately?) And the older generation always decries it.</p>
<p>Barrel making skills are also sadly lacking. There are many skills I am not proficient in, including changing a tire and changing a car battery. I DO have AAA and have used their services several times to get the service I needed.</p>
<p>My D can read an analog timepiece, but it DOES take her some time and concentration. I don’t consider her lazy, just as she gets frustrated that tech sometimes is beyond me when it’s so simple to her and her brother. Eventually after they explain it and with considerable work on my part, I am able to “get it.”</p>
<p>When my niece was in 3rd grade (she is 30 now) she had to go for remedial clock reading. </p>
<p>I think kids should know how to read a clock and write in cursive. We have calculators but still think it’s important to teach kids how to add and subtract using a pencil and paper. ;)</p>
There are many skills I am not proficient in, including changing a tire and changing a car battery. I DO have AAA and have used their services several times to get the service I needed.</p>