Telling the Time (for fun and profit)

[thestrangequark]

For an otherwise pretty bright kid, I was pretty late in learning to tell the time. I think I just never needed to, so never bothered, you know? I was about 5 when I learned, and I remember being embarrassed because that was when we covered it in class. All the other kids could do it already and I got flustered by that because I was normally ahead of the rest. Somehow telling the time got left behind... I remember that evening asking my parents to teach me so I didn't have to feel stupid at school the next day!

Strangely enough, I always wear an analogue watch... go figure...

I know I could at least recognize 3pm at a pretty early age, because I was always gazing at the clock waiting for school to be over. Boredom was my necessity!

 

[Yoda]

I never liked watches. And yes, in the era of the smartphone, you do look like an old fuddy-duddy wearing one, unless it's doubling as bling. In which case you just look like a douche.

But watches are so much easier than phones! My watch is on my wrist. My phone requires work to dig out of my pockets.

If reaching in your pocket is work, maybe you should consider larger pants?

I like knowing the time and all, but usually I'm in front of a computer, or at least in a room with a clock. If I have a meeting or something my phone will beep 10 minutes beforehand anyway. Aside from that, what do I need to know the exact time for?

I'm generally pretty good at guessing the time within 10 minutes even if I haven't see a clock for hours anyway.

When I briefly tried a wristwatch, it gave me that same feeling of discomfort I get with those event re-entry or "over 21 let this man have a beer" wrist bands.

I can kind of understand the antsy feeling you get without a watch, I get the same thing if my keys, wallet, and phone aren't in their proper pockets.... but to be fair, losing any one of those has more consequences than not knowing what time it is.

 

[Kestra]

I can't stand the feeling of wearing a watch. I also don't like keeping my cell phone with me I just sort of wander through life without these things.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

^Your experience would be exceedingly rare, then. I taught kindergarten through 3rd grade for 6 years, after studying education, psychology, and brain development. I never encountered a child who could could do that. The two possibilities would be either that you might have learned clock time by rote without a deeper understanding of what it actually meant (and as adults we have very poor memory of what we actually understood as children), or were truly prodigious. Either is completely possible, and usually I would say the first is more likely, but given that you were excited enough by watches to get one for your 2nd birthday it sounds completely plausible that you were a prodigious time-teller! I have a baby cousin who is a prodigious guitar obsessor: he is 18 months old and can flip through a guitar book and name every model, he can recognize the sounds of all the major western stringed instruments, from cello to ukelele, all while barely able to form a complete sentence. Apparently at that age my own obsession was bridges (I got an architects' book about bridge design when I was two), and I could name the various types. So, in summation, if you were obsessed enough it makes sense that you'd learn time-telling early, but that is definitely not the age at which kids usually learn it.

Interesting. Thank you. I can't remember if I was particularly obsessive about time-telling, but given that the watch was a present maybe I thought that this meant time telling was ULTRA IMPORTANT and I should learn it at once .

I always thought 2 was an early age for time-telling, but I was always a quick developer so I wasn't sure if that was just "earlier than usual" or "truly strange". To be honest, I think I was just fascinated by numbers in general as a small child; I'm told I amazed the headteacher at my nursary school when I started - several students, including myself, were given a shared cake for our fourth birthday. There were seven candles, and I stuck up my hand and said "there are three too many candles", which apparently surprised her. I guess numbers in general were my interest back then (to be replaced at age 5 by dinosaurs, because mathematics can't really compete with dinosaurs, let's face it ).

 

[RoJoHen]

I can kind of understand the antsy feeling you get without a watch, I get the same thing if my keys, wallet, and phone aren't in their proper pockets.... but to be fair, losing any one of those has more consequences than not knowing what time it is.

My watch is like an article of clothing to me. Not wearing it is like not wearing pants. It has nothing to do with telling the time; it has to do with not wanting to feel naked!

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I know I could at least recognize 3pm at a pretty early age, because I was always gazing at the clock waiting for school to be over. Boredom was my necessity!

It's funny you should mention that. As a child growing up, I was only used to certain clocks at home and at school showing certain times of the day. I was most familiar with the home clocks and my digital clock radio showing times between 6 and 9 o'clock, while school clocks almost always showed anything between 9 and 3 o'clock. Once I ventured outside of those comfort zones for the respective locations - for example, being home from school due to illness - things didn't feel right for me.

I can't stand the feeling of wearing a watch. I also don't like keeping my cell phone with me I just sort of wander through life without these things.

For a while now, I have gone without wearing a watch on my wrist. This is usually for work-related reasons, as infection control measures forbid wrist garments to be worn, and watches, etc. are preferred to be carried or attached to the belt or clipped to other articles of clothing. (A colleague of mine has even taken to wearing a fob watch to work.) However, a more practical reason for not wearing a wristwatch is because I find the straps flimsy and easily broken around my big wrists.

Recently I have taken an older wristwatch (one with a broken strap), removed the strap from the clock housing, and attached a clip from an old name-badge to the housing and attached it to my clothing or ID badge. It looks rather cute.

At a recent function, I wore an expensive wristwatch for show purposes (the battery was dead and I still relied upon my phone clock), and yet, I still felt odd wearing such a weight on my wrist. I used to love watches as a child and a teenager - my favourite watch ever was an early Casio G-SHOCK with a World Cup USA 94 logo on the strap, and built-in thermometer and sunrise/sunset calculator, water resistant to 200m - but these days, having spent years not wearing a watch, it doesn't feel right.

If I don't have a phone or my makeshift watch-clip handy, I usually look for the nearest clock in my surroundings for the time.

 

[Yoda]

I can kind of understand the antsy feeling you get without a watch, I get the same thing if my keys, wallet, and phone aren't in their proper pockets.... but to be fair, losing any one of those has more consequences than not knowing what time it is.

My watch is like an article of clothing to me. Not wearing it is like not wearing pants. It has nothing to do with telling the time; it has to do with not wanting to feel naked!

Well, I tried, but that's just silly

 

[Kestra]

these days, having spent years not wearing a watch, it doesn't feel right.

It's probably something that you get used to. When I was younger my Dad bought me this fancy Disney watch that I used to wear a lot. I loved it for the sentimental value as much as anything else. But I was really young and that was a loooong time ago.

When I first started wearing rings (engagement, then wedding) it felt super awkward at first. I take my rings off when I'm at home but it feels weird now if I'm out without them. I generally wear my wedding band on my left and then a Hindu ring on my right hand, so if I'm ever wearing my wedding band and no other rings I feel out of sorts for awhile. My husband, on the other hand, rarely wears his wedding band so it's still awkward for him.

 

[RoJoHen]

I can kind of understand the antsy feeling you get without a watch, I get the same thing if my keys, wallet, and phone aren't in their proper pockets.... but to be fair, losing any one of those has more consequences than not knowing what time it is.

My watch is like an article of clothing to me. Not wearing it is like not wearing pants. It has nothing to do with telling the time; it has to do with not wanting to feel naked!

Well, I tried, but that's just silly

You try not wearing a watch after wearing one every single day for 20 years. It doesn't feel right if it's not around your wrist.

 

[MacLeod]

I know the feeling, after wearing a watch for a while, you notice when you don't put it on. (for a while at least, you have to not wear it for a while to not notice it's missing)

 

[rhubarbodendron]

I haven't worn a watch since my last vacation (October 2011). It took a while to get used to it but I'm pretty good at telling the time by the position of the sun now =)

There's a scientific theory that if you do (or don't) something for 20 days in a row, it becomes a habit.
I can't recall, though, whether it took 20 days or longer till I quit looking at my naked wrist every 5 minutes.


I usually have my cell phone around, though, since my parents both have a rather delicate health and I want to be within reach, just in case.