I don’t think we’ll lose that ability in the medium term, analog wristwatches are still a bit of a status symbol / a common gift.
In the long term, we may lose the ability, but then it would be because it’s about as useful as the ability to do multiplication using roman numerals or to convert acres into square feet.
A few minutes ago I would have agreed with this, but now I’m not so sure. It seems like there are people who represent time in their heads in a way which is more similar to an analogue clock (breaking it into chunks, thinking of before/after an hour), and such people might always prefer them. One could argue that that kind of thinking is the product of a culture that still uses analogue clocks, and therefore it’ll go away as digital clocks come to dominate, but I think that perspective is also reinforced by some common language constructions (“quarter of an hour,” “it’s ten of”) which will be harder to get rid of. Not to mention the fact that, if digital clocks aren’t preferable for everyone now, there’s no reason that they’ll become so dominant as to start that snowballing process.
I don’t think we’ll lose that ability in the medium term, analog wristwatches are still a bit of a status symbol / a common gift.
In the long term, we may lose the ability, but then it would be because it’s about as useful as the ability to do multiplication using roman numerals or to convert acres into square feet.
A few minutes ago I would have agreed with this, but now I’m not so sure. It seems like there are people who represent time in their heads in a way which is more similar to an analogue clock (breaking it into chunks, thinking of before/after an hour), and such people might always prefer them. One could argue that that kind of thinking is the product of a culture that still uses analogue clocks, and therefore it’ll go away as digital clocks come to dominate, but I think that perspective is also reinforced by some common language constructions (“quarter of an hour,” “it’s ten of”) which will be harder to get rid of. Not to mention the fact that, if digital clocks aren’t preferable for everyone now, there’s no reason that they’ll become so dominant as to start that snowballing process.