Do young people today have difficulty telling the time on analogue clocks?

[Draconis]

I've heard this from a couple of people now and wondered how much truth there is in it

There are sundials scattered about the place but we don't rely on them.

I'm not saying we're there quite yet but that's the way we're going.

My experience with GPs surgeries is that time has little relevance once you get through the doors - your appointment may be 10.20 but the likelihood is you’ll still be there at 11.45 (frivolous comment obv I understand gps are overworked and underfunded).

Very true😂
Similar with bus time tables the time table may say its due at 1.15 but when it will.appear is anyone's guess😂in my experience at least .

Similar with bus time tables the time table may say its due at 1.15 but when it will.appear is anyone's guess😂in my experience at least

Our busses thankfully have live tracking as the actual timetables are basically fiction 😆.

True we have had trainee students who when asked to go outside at 20.30 say they can’t tell the time

It's always interesting to read threads like this and realise how many people genuinely think that learning something means remembering it in perpetuity. My job as a teacher would be much easier if that were the case! We all lose any knowledge that we do not regularly retrieve. I learnt to drive in a manual car and know how to change gear but I haven't needed to use this skill for a long time. I recently had to drive a manual courtesy car and it was a significant effort to recall the skill for the first day or so.

Reminds me of the clip of the queen walking around the palace grounds and noticing the sundial had been placed in the shade 😆. Same way I imagine may people's clocks will be decorative and they'll default to their phone or Apple Watch to actually tell the time.

Thank.god for technology!😂

Whilst I agree that timekeeping with an analogue clock/watch is possibly outdated, I would argue that familiarising children with it lays the groundwork for other important life skills. For example, basic trigonometry. Surely a child who can envisage 15 minutes on a clock will have an easier time grasping the concept of 90 degrees and a right angle. Similarly, navigation. Indeed, does anyone navigate without 360 degrees being mentally distributed around a clock face?

And coming onto a roundabout "take the fifth exit" is fine but it's helpful, having glanced at the map, to know that my exit is at 3 o'clock.

I mentioned upthread that I'm dyspraxic and, like your DD, left and right get me every time. It takes a few moments of concentration (i.e. looking at the hand I write with ) to figure it out and no matter how I hard I try, it's just not instinctive to me.

It also leads to me having zero sense of direction. I can't read a map and even sat-nav isn't fool proof because it overestimates my ability to judge distance. I couldn't tell you how many times I have made a right turn two streets too early

My nephew can’t. He is 10 and quite a bright boy.

The only digital clocks in our house are on phones and domestic appliances. We all have analogue watches. My teenage DS is a bit sniffy about watches with batteries in general in fact, but he definitely wouldn't wear a digital watch.
The best watchmakers in the world make almost exclusively analogue, mechanical timepieces and there's still a huge demand for them. You only have to look in the window of any half decent jewellers to see there's still a market for traditional looking watches across a wide price range. My DS's "best" watch belonged to his great grandfather and is nearly 100 years old. It still keeps perfect time - better than my modern quartz watch in fact. I can't see analogue watches disappearing any time soon.

But the rest of us still use analogue times so if I tell a younger person I'll meet them at ten to three they need to know what that means!

But the rest of us still use analogue times so if I tell a younger person I'll meet them at ten to three they need to know what that means!

Of course. But can I ask how old you are?

There lies the point.

The best watchmakers in the world make almost exclusively analogue, mechanical timepieces and there's still a huge demand for them. You only have to look in the window of any half decent jewellers to see there's still a market for traditional looking watches across a wide price range.

Agree that of course analogue watches are a special thing. Think of Rolex, Cartier, Tag watches. But I think more and more they will become almost a novelty sign of wealth and status. Like a pocket watch used to be.

What's the big deal.in saying 2.50,?
I.mean you can be stubborn if you want but what's the point?

Why is saying “10 to 3” analogue time? It’s just a different way of communicating the same information (arguably more useful if 3 is significant and you want to emphasise the time left until 3 happens).

if I look at the time on a digital clock I might still say it out loud as “quarter past” etc.

Why is saying “10 to 3” analogue time?

The point of this thread is that youngsters who don't do analogue clocks would call that '2.50' . As per a digital clock.

And of course it's the same thing communicated differently. Analogues and Digital both tell the same time ( hopefully).

So you're saying the rest of us have to give up on analogue too???

I think "5 and 20 past" (or to) is likely even more archaic!

I still say it though.

Yes, mechanical analogue watches have become a luxury item, but the shops are still full of inexpensive quartz analogue watches - Swatch, Timex etc - and a lot of the designs seem to be aimed at a younger market. OK, people are buying them as jewellery or fashion items rather than just to tell what time it is, but they are still buying them in significant numbers. I doubt watchmakers are going to stop producing products with analogue faces for as long as people still wear watches.

No I'm saying you can't force people to use analogue time🙄

Soundtrack to my childhood- "Get your shoe on, we'll be late. It's FIVE AND TWENTY TO!"

I doubt watchmakers are going to stop producing products with analogue faces for as long as people still wear watches.

Agree.

Listening to the news today though and it it all goes tits up with climate change we'll all be back to sun dials anyway.

And the kids will learn quick.