Youngsters can no longer tell the time!

I cannot tell you how much I loathe technology. In the last week, mobile phones, tablets and recording apps on these devices have been my worst enemy.

You see, I’m planning to start a YouTube channel for my art. So I needed to record myself painting. The process was not as straightforward as I thought it would be. To my shock and horror I ended up doing the same painting three times and on all three occasions the camera App on my phone failed to record the whole process. I was stressed out to the max and nearly collapsed from the shock. I only managed to get a full recording on my fourth attempt of the same painting but by using a different device and then only after purchasing an SD card to expand its memory. Moreover, all the while I was doing the fourth painting, I kept nervously glancing up at the tablet screen to make sure it was still recording. It did record the entire process but that was the most stressful painting session I’d ever experienced. I now have four of the same painting in my sketchbook and that really upsets me. Four of the same painting!!

That’s technology for you, isn’t it?

Yes, technology has brought us some advantages. It has brought us closer to people so that we can communicate with them more easily and more often. Without it we would still be relying on snail mail and flying thousands of miles across the world to see them. But now we have instant messaging Apps as well as video calling Apps. We can also buy stuff online, sell stuff online and review stuff before purchasing them. And that’s all well and good. But with the good comes the horrible.

I read earlier in the week that examination halls across the UK are no longer hanging up analogue clocks. You know, the ones with the two hands that go round a clock face that’s numbered from 1 to 12. Why? Because it seems that most youngsters taking their GCSEs can’t tell the time! Or at least they have trouble telling the time on an analogue clock. Examiners are concerned that, because pupils are having trouble telling the time in the conventional sense, they might miscalculate how long they have left in an exam.

Children are supposed to be able to tell the time on an analogue clock by the time they’re seven years old. But apparently they are now so used to reading the digital numbers displayed on their mobile devices that they have forgotten what they learnt when they were younger.

It has to be these stupid devices. What else can it be? After all, you and I can still tell what time it is in the evening when the big hand is on 2 and the small hand has just passed the number seven. But today’s teens cannot and that is a great travesty.

They are missing out on so many great watches that run on the analogue system. Think of some of the bigger classic brands of watches and they are all analogue. And don’t forget Big Ben and all grandfather clocks that run on analogue time as well.

In addition, I find that with an analogue clock it’s much easier to determine how much time has lapsed without having to do some form of mental arithmetic. It’s there at a glance from where the big hand was then to where it is now.

I have to admit that educators are doing these pupils a disservice by going around changing all the clocks. Everyone ought to be able to tell the time using a normal, old-fashioned clock. That should be a basic skill every adult should have.

Technology appears to be dumbing people down. I mean, a lot of people can no longer do simple arithmetic without reaching for a calculator or opening the calculator App on their phones. That fiasco started as soon as the calculator was invented.

People can no longer remember even frequently used phone numbers, something I used to be able to do, without checking their contacts list. That started as soon as mobile phones were able to store phone numbers.

People can no longer spell even simple words without doing a spell check or double checking a spelling by Googling it. That started when search engines were created and word documents began to autocorrect misspelt words.

To be honest, I can’t decide what’s worse. Not being able to tell the time on a conventional clock or not being able to spell or not being able to do simple arithmetic. I leave you to decide.