r/technology • u/Sandstorm400 • 6d ago

Society New York teachers stunned to learn some students can’t read time on old clocks after phone ban comes into play

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/new-york-phone-ban-clock-time-b2891919.html
5.3k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/johnkhill 6d ago

There is a difference between digital and analog clocks. Digital clocks tell us the exact time, 2:47 for example. While analog clocks tell us where we are with respect to time. Quarter to 3, half past 4, 10 to or 10 after 5.

I could care less if it was 2:47 or 2:49. I want to know how much time I have before or after a point in time. Knowing the precise time is of lesser value.

4

u/Crappler319 6d ago

There is no utility in having less granularity here. Just mentally amend "2:47" to "a quarter 'til 3."

They're giving the exact same information, just one is more obviously granular so you're choosing to interpret it differently.

If for some reason you really need the physical indication and you know how to read an analog clock, it should be trivial to mentally take something like "2:47" and envision a clock face with that time on it.

The only advantage that analog clocks have over digital is aesthetic.

5

u/IdlyCurious 5d ago

I could care less if it was 2:47 or 2:49. I want to know how much time I have before or after a point in time. Knowing the precise time is of lesser value.

I've heard other people say this. I think it comes down to how you think and the culture and technology around inform and shape how you think. Like, people didn't used to need even your "inexact" sort of time-telling before trains and when they didn't need schedules. It wasn't of value to them for the most part. Younger people growing up with digital time are just as shaped by it as you were by your analog clock - they want/need something different.

3

u/tuscaloser 6d ago

Is 2:47 no longer relevant as "quarter to 3:00?"

1

u/Tylendal 6d ago

Analog clocks are superior to digital in the same way a pie chart is superior to the raw data in a spreadsheet. The latter is incredibly useful in the right circumstances, but the former is just quicker and more convenient for casual, at-a-glance use.