A Matter of Time

Digital Clocks

“The hours of folly are measured by the clock, but of wisdom no clock can measure.” William Blake

The first digital watch was produced in 1952, and since then they’ve become the most popular form of time-telling device available to the general public. Most have a four to six digit display powered by either light emitting diodes (LED) or a liquid crystal display (LCD).  Both use small enough amounts of electrical power to allow their batteries to last for a long time. Some can even last for up to 300,000 hours—the equivalent of approximately 34 years.

Individual digits on these clocks are formed by merging up to seven separate lines that connect to form the various shapes needed to display a certain number. If you look closely at the numbers being formed by a digital watch or clock, you will notice they are not solid figures, but rather a specific combination of these lines.

Since its development in the early 1950’s, the digital clock has come a long way.  It took thousands of years to develop a clock that ticks while running on mechanical energy and another few centuries after that to produce one that utilizes the more accurate and longer lasting power of the battery.  In the fifty years since battery or electrically powered clocks were first introduced, these timepieces have been able to measure much more than just time. Now these electrically powered clocks can come equipped with talking alarms, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), radios, thermometers, timers, calendars, as well as moon, sunrise, and various time zone indicators.  In a way similar to that of the ancient Egyptians who perhaps never envisioned counting minutes, the makers of the first mechanical clocks at the time of the Industrial Revolution probably never imagined all of the things that people would be able to do with battery operated devices only two hundred years later.

Some people worry about the effect that digital clocks will have on the upcoming generation of children and their ability to tell time. Back when the majority of clocks were analog, with hour and minute hands on their face, it was more difficult for a child to tell time because they had to interpret what role the hour, minute and seconds hands played in the time-telling process. Now, all they have to do is read the numbers on the screen. Do all children know what “quarter past” or “quarter of” an hour means?  In some languages such as German, referring to increments of fifteen minutes in this way is the most common way of communicating this time interval, while in America “fifteen past” is acceptable as well. Without the hands of a clock present, there is no way to literally tell that fifteen is one-fourth of the way around the clock. Therefore, with a digital clock, there would be no logical reason to assume that fifteen is equal to one-quarter of anything. This is especially so because people are used to dealing with things like our monetary system where 25, not 15, is often associated with a quarter of something. Some believe that the widespread use of technology, like digital clocks and calculators, will lessen the mental ingenuity of our youth. Will cultures with fewer digital clocks and fewer calculators in use produce better thinkers and better mathematicians? Only time will tell.

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