Lessons not taught, conventions unfollowed?

Be forewarned -- this blog post has very little to do with the library or literacy in a conventional sense (though it does address a related field of literacy --that of chronological literacy).  You have been warned...



Over the past few weeks, I've noticed an interesting trend.  We're seeing a glut of children (most seem to be preteens) coming in to the library and asking staff members what time it is.  Now, none of us mind answering that question.  Even though we don't record it as such in our stats, it's one of the easiest reference questions we're ever asked (next to "where's the washroom?").  But I'm starting to find the trend a little alarming.

We have a clock in plain view behind and above the circulation counter.  The clock is large enough that I can clearly see the numbers from the opposite side of the library.  The only assumption I can draw based on that (other than sheer laziness) is that these children can't tell time -- at least, not with an analogue clock face.  I learned to tell time that way in the first grade. (if my parents didn't teach me before then -- I can't remember for sure...)

Is telling time on analogue clocks/watches a skill that's not taught anymore?  In the past year, I've heard that many children are no longer being taught cursive handwriting, and I thought that was borderline ridiculous.  But at least people who cannot write cursive can take a stab at deciphering it.  The same isn't true for people who have only learned to tell time on digital clocks.  In a very real sense, these people are functional chronological illiterates.

Perhaps this is part of a growing trend against the regular wearing of watches in favor of carrying cell phones.  When I was growing up and given my first watch (an analogue watch), it was like a rite of passage.  I got to wear a watch, and was officially a big kid!  A year or so later, it was supplanted with a more kid-friendly watch (with a stretchy wristband instead of a traditional strap), but the idea stayed with me.

A few years later, I was given my first digital watch just in time for my teen years, and my current watch was given to me on my eighteenth birthday -- to accompany my entrance to manhood.  These watches have meant a lot to me over the years.  My current watch saw me through the end of high school, my years at university, timed my exercise over the past year and a half, and even traveled to Japan with me.  The writing along the edges has been worn away, the buttons stick, and the watch face is starting to accumulate large scratches.  My left wrist has a patch of skin that's permanently pale, indented, and ridiculously smooth.  This watch has been through three batteries, five watch straps, and I absolutely *will not* get rid of it until the day it refuses to work at all.

We live in a world where so much is considered disposable and so many old things and ideas are discarded.  I implore you folks -- don't let that happen here.  Teach your kids how to tell time on analogue clock faces.  Give them a watch instead of a cell phone for their birthday -- the watch and the meaning behind it will stay with them much longer than a 3-year contract.