Remember learning how to tell time as a young child with those bright clock faces and numbers with minute and hour “hands” our teachers/parents moved around the clock face to teach us to tell time? Do they still do that at school?
Everywhere one looks in your house is a digital clock, from the flashing 12:00 on our own parents’ VCR (I had to cover my parents’ VCR digital clock with tape so it would stop annoying them), the microwave, the coffee maker, and … Remember those analog clocks in every classroom, that slowly “clicked” to the next minute while a classroom of students stared it down at the end of class. You may also have an analog clock, fancy or not, on a wall for decorative purposes.
It seems everyone I know has a digital watch. Not only is it digital, but it counts steps, takes your blood pressure, oxygen level, pulse, answers your phone, texts your messages, and probably a lot more than I can think of. And all of that, like Dick Tracy, on your wrist.
Having been a nurse back in the day, it was necessary to have an analog watch (that’s all they made!) with a secondhand sweep for your pulse rate. And instead of counting your pulse for a full minute, I must admit, if your pulse was strong and regular, many nurses would opt for the 15-second count and multiply by four.
I still have that type of watch. And I’ve found it easier — and quicker — to tell someone the time while others are checking their phones or tapping at their smartwatch for the time. And dang, if I scratch it, lose it, or step on it, it’s an easy, low-cost replacement.
And do I really want to have all that HIPAA information “at-a-glance” on my wrist? I had a Fitbit way back when it only counted your steps. And at the time, because of my exercise/work schedules, 10,000 footsteps per day was the norm for me. Fast forward ten years, and that isn’t the case. I get the exercise I’m comfortable with but really don’t want to know how many steps I am away from 7,000, let alone 10,00.
Am I alone here? Should a child’s first watch be a digital one with two apps? Or should they start with one where the focus is telling time? Do you use all of the information on your smartwatch?
Can we do a poll? Leave a comment below.
I have a smartwatch.
or
I have an analog watch.