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New York teachers stunned to learn some students can’t read time on old clocks after phone ban comes into play
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2026
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Ok by why does this matter. Most people can't read a sundial either?
We don't really use sundials still. We still use analog clocks though because they're efficient and if it ain't broke, why fix it?
Not only that but Technology Connections got me thinking about analog clocks in a whole new way.
If it's 1:40 and you know you gotta leave in half an hour, you don't need to know that you need to leave at 2:10...just 'when the big hand does half a lap from now'.
It's better for visualizing time, if that makes sense?
I think of it like pizza time, I have this big a slice until something happens or I have to be somewhere or whatever
It's easy to know when you've only got half a pie left!
Most likely more digital then analog clocks these days. I can read analog but I cant remember the last time I needed. Besides the both do the same job but one is quicker and more accessible.
People are really scared of change but just because something is new doesn't mean it's bad.
That depends. People have different brains. If you've got dyscalculia, analog is probably easier.
It's a lot more effort to take down working analog clocks and replace them with digital ones; the analog clocks we've got on towers and all aren't going anywhere.
I don't think it's always a fear of change. Sometimes it's just comfort in the familiar.
No need to take them down, eventually they will need to be replaced and most people have a phone or a digital watch anyway. It's just not super priority. I think reading comprehension should be a higher concern
Agreed, it's a gradual process. I would be inclined to agree, but there still is a sizable watch heads population, even among younger folks, so who knows.
Definitely, literacy is key. What decades of defunding the humanities and liberal arts does...
Plus when it is broke it still works a couple times per day.
There's concern that young people have very poorly developed analog knowledge. Humans usually learn better by combining sensory inputs, such as learning better by writing things down or tying things to memories. Smells famously tie into memories very well. By only typing, and having very little connections to the real world in the context of learning, there is the fear that they will learn less and also not be able to learn, since they are lacking those sensory connections. They also have horrible handwriting, probably spelling as well due to autocorrect. This is practically not a problem, but if the next generations grow up not knowing "how to language", that is probably not ideal.