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Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:16 am
by neonzx
When I was in 4th grade (1976ish) my teacher tasked me to help a fellow student on how to read an analog clock. We did a few sessions. Alan was kinda slow in the head (held back) and twice my size being older. But he was nice.
Teacher gave me visual aids but they didn't help.
Anyway, I failed the mission. He just could not grasp it.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 1:30 am
by MN-Skeptic
I saw something just the other day where the person was puzzled as to what an outlet in her house was for, wondering if it was for an ethernet cable.
It was a telephone jack.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:40 am
by Volkonski
I grew up in a house where the telephone was hard wired into the wall by a technician from the phone company. I still tend to think of phone jacks that the user can plug in as new tech.
Of course it has been many years now since we've had a landline.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:57 am
by pipistrelle
Volkonski wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:40 am
I grew up in a house where the telephone was hard wired into the wall by a technician from the phone company. I still tend to think of phone jacks that the user can plug in as new tech.
Of course it has been many years now since we've had a landline.
When I was in college I decided to get a phone in my dorm room, which was a rarity (there were two pay phones on the floor and house phones). The phone rep said plug in according to colors vs wrapping wires-it sounded like it was a new thing.
That was a long time ago.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 10:19 am
by northland10
neonzx wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:16 am
When I was in 4th grade (1976ish) my teacher tasked me to help a fellow student on how to read an analog clock. We did a few sessions. Alan was kinda slow in the head (held back) and twice my size being older. But he was nice.
Teacher gave me visual aids but they didn't help.
Anyway, I failed the mission. He just could not grasp it.
When I was growing up, all the school clocks were analog and since students were always looking at what time school ended (or lunch), reading analog was no problem. Even when I was teaching 20 years back, we only had analog clocks.
Digital watches were the thing and in middle school, the best geeks had the calculator watch while working on a TRS-80 or a Commodore PET computer (or the VIC-20).
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 10:34 am
by bill_g
neonzx wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:16 am
When I was in 4th grade (1976ish) my teacher tasked me to help a fellow student on how to read an analog clock. We did a few sessions. Alan was kinda slow in the head (held back) and twice my size being older. But he was nice.
Teacher gave me visual aids but they didn't help.
Anyway, I failed the mission. He just could not grasp it.
I'm glad your teacher was into each-one-teach-one (even if Alan didn't become proficient). While being able to tell time is important, learning how to share information is more important.
And thanks - ugh - in 1976 we were workin on baby child #3. I've said it before - It was more fun to be 20 in the 70's than being 70 in the 20's.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 10:36 am
by zekeb
I can read those old-fashioned electric meters. They had five dials. On many models some of the dials would turn in an opposite direction. Alan wouldn't have succeeded as a meter man.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:05 pm
by Reddog
It seems to me that calling out time verbally is different when looking at digital versus analog. As an example if I am looking at a digital clock reading 3:43, for example, I will say “three forty three”, if I am looking at an analog clock, I will say “ a quarter to four”.
Probably just me, but it’s kinda annoying to be precise to the minute most of the time. I would find a sundial precision close enough. Accuracy has its place, but not all the time. I think exact time was one of the consequences of the railroad.
Another observation, perhaps only me again, is that analog devices are observable from greater distances. For example I wonder how large the digits would need to be to be readable, from the same distance, in Big Ben.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:12 pm
by zekeb
Reddog wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:05 pm
It seems to me that calling out time verbally is different when looking at digital versus analog. As an example if I am looking at a digital clock reading 3:43, for example, I will say “three forty three”, if I am looking at an analog clock, I will say “ a quarter to four”.
Probably just me, but it’s kinda annoying to be precise to the minute most of the time. I would find a sundial precision close enough. Accuracy has its place, but not all the time. I think exact time was one of the consequences of the railroad.
Another observation, perhaps only me again, is that analog devices are observable from greater distances. For example I wonder how large the digits would need to be to be readable, from the same distance, in Big Ben.
Quarter to four, half to nine and other similar times are not uncommon in foreign languages.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:23 pm
by neonzx
Reddog wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:05 pm
It seems to me that calling out time verbally is different when looking at digital versus analog. As an example if I am looking at a digital clock reading 3:43, for example, I will say “three forty three”, if I am looking at an analog clock, I will say “ a quarter to four”.
Probably just me, but it’s kinda annoying to be precise to the minute most of the time. I would find a sundial precision close enough. Accuracy has its place, but not all the time. I think exact time was one of the consequences of the railroad.
It is not just you.
When people say something like "It's 3:54" a part of me wants to ask... "and how many seconds?"
But that's just me and I've never done it.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:46 pm
by Reddog
Lol, I’ve thought the same! I know precision is important, but I don’t calibrate mass flow meters anymore, for instance.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:50 pm
by neonzx
Reddog wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:46 pm
Lol, I’ve thought the same! I know precision is important, but I don’t calibrate mass flow meters anymore, for instance.
Lol. I mean if you need the exact time while waiting for a subway train scheduled stop, I get it. Otherwise round off.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 1:34 pm
by Rolodex
I like the visual representation of an analog face. The minute hand closer to the 6 or the 12 tells me how much time I have to the top of the hour (to get ready or to get somewhere or whatever). For some reason it helps me know whether I need to hurry or not. I guess it works as a relative thing rather than a math thing.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 2:51 pm
by MN-Skeptic
I remember learning how to read an analog clock in Kindergarten or 1st grade. I distinctly remember making a clock face from a paper plate.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 3:08 pm
by neonzx
zekeb wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2516 10:01 pm
Alan wouldn't have succeeded as a meter man.
No likely not. Don't know what happened with him. He was not at school in the next year. Moved with family or something.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 3:25 pm
by Volkonski
MN-Skeptic wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 2:51 pm
I remember learning how to read an analog clock in Kindergarten or 1st grade. I distinctly remember making a clock face from a paper plate.
I recall doing that also.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 3:46 pm
by zekeb
The little hand is on the four and the big hand is on the twelve. It's Howdy Doody time!
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 3:48 pm
by neonzx
zekeb wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 3:46 pm
The little hand is on the four and the big hand is on the twelve. It's Howdy Doody time!
The little hand is on the four and the big hand is on the four. It's time!
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 6:10 pm
by northland10
I still look at my watch even though all I have to do is ask, "Hey Google, what time is it?"
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 6:21 pm
by MN-Skeptic
northland10 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 6:10 pm
I still look at my watch even though all I have to do is ask, "Hey Google, what time is it?"
With the Mickey Mouse / Minnie Mouse face on an Apple watch, you just have to tap the screen.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 6:25 pm
by keith
AndyinPA wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:00 am
About fifty years ago, my husband and I had to teach his little sister, who was born in 1961, how to read an analog clock. Their mom was an early adopter of digital clocks, and that was all that she had in the house. We were living in Michigan at the time, so I'd say she was about six or seven years old at the time.
My grandkids, now 14 and 10, we taught it when they about the same ages, maybe a little sooner.
One of my girlfriends claimed she couldn't read a clock because she was "absent from school that day".
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:15 pm
by MN-Skeptic
I haven't been in a school building in years. Do they no longer have analog clocks in the hallways or classrooms? They've all been replaced with digital clocks?
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:58 pm
by Maybenaut
Volkonski wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:40 am
I grew up in a house where the telephone was hard wired into the wall by a technician from the phone company. I still tend to think of phone jacks that the user can plug in as new tech.
Of course it has been many years now since we've had a landline.
We bought a lamp that was made from a real candlestick phone (the kind without a dial). We took the lamp parts off of it and wired it so we could plug it into an RJ45 jack. Visitors would come and pick up the earpiece, and hurriedly replace it when they heard a dial tone.
But we can’t have that quality entertainment anymore because there’s no landline. Like, no landline on the mountain at all, even if we wanted it, which we don’t. We might turn it back into a lamp.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:58 pm
by zekeb
MN-Skeptic wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:15 pm
I haven't been in a school building in years. Do they no longer have analog clocks in the hallways or classrooms? They've all been replaced with digital clocks?
I'm glad I went to school when they had analog clocks. Imagine the torture of watching a digital clock changing time only once every minute.
Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 8:07 pm
by Sam the Centipede
zekeb wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:58 pm
MN-Skeptic wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:15 pm
I haven't been in a school building in years. Do they no longer have analog clocks in the hallways or classrooms? They've all been replaced with digital clocks?
I'm glad I went to school when they had analog clocks. Imagine the torture of watching a digital clock changing time only once every minute.
... and that feeling on really dull days that the big hand might be moving backwards
