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submitted 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) by empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world

Think about when the last time you used a wall clock or even a public clock pole/tower or something. My brain doesn't even register them anymore, I just look at my phone and reset brain to whatever magic hand box says.

To think there used to be a time where you had to physically go outside and look at a clock tower if you wanted accurate ish local time

edit: hourly workers who live by the time card, disregard this post

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[-] Curious_Canid@piefed.ca 5 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I doubt I look at the time on my phone more than a couple of times per week. I have wall clocks all over the house and a watch on my wrist. Almost all of them, including my watch, automatically correct themselves using the WWV time signal from the National Bureau of Standards.

I don't have anything against using my phone, but it's easier to glance at the wall or my wrist than to get out my phone when I want to know the time.

[-] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 11 points 5 hours ago

I use clocks all the time - it's way faster to look at a clock than pull my phone out.

Its even faster to simply look at a wall clock than the clock on my phone when I'm using the phone, since the fint is so small and digital.

Analog clocks are just faster to read, for me - I don't have to think about "what do these numbers mean".

Analog clocks are just a better analog for the passing of time.

[-] kunaltyagi@programming.dev 1 points 3 hours ago

At the bus stop. Yeah the timetable and my mobile say bus in 1 min, but I really need to validate my phone is correct because I don't SEE the bus. Where is it????

[-] yesman@lemmy.world 8 points 6 hours ago

I still wear a wristwatch. Not as jewelry, a cheap one that tells time. Pulling the black obelisk out of pocket just to see the time is burdensome and slow.

Not to mention a fresh opportunity to drop the damn thing.

[-] explodIng_lIme@lemmy.world 37 points 13 hours ago

Watches: Am I a joke to you?

[-] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 10 points 13 hours ago

Yes because it is a reproduction, with much error, of your phone time for the vast majority of watch owners.

[-] Damarus@feddit.org 4 points 10 hours ago

What error are we talking about here?

[-] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 1 points 10 hours ago

I don't think most people have a seconds clock up on their phone when they set their watch to their phone time (also meaning OP is correct that phone time is base time for people).

That means they aren't syncing the seconds hand and there is ± 60 seconds of error. Also probably some error in ± 1 minute of hand placement error, especially for small watch faces, plus mechanical timing error for all but the high end mechanical watches. There are tons of sources of error. NTP time is accurate to the 10s of milliseconds, so around 3 orders of magnitude difference for most people.

[-] Fecundpossum@lemmy.world 8 points 12 hours ago

I have a bunch of mechanical watches that are varying degrees of inaccurate by their nature, but I do have one that isn’t inaccurate at all. A square Gshock that uses six band radio towers to update itself nightly. Just as accurate as a phone, and I use it as my reference to set my mechanical watches.

So there’s at least that alternative. Silly I know, because I’ve always got my phone close by, but I just think they’re neat.

[-] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 2 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

And what time do you use to set your watch?

[-] Fecundpossum@lemmy.world 6 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Maybe reread my comment? The Gshock watch sets itself daily to the atomic clock via radio broadcast. I use that watch as my reference to set the others when they’re a little off.

Edit: here’s the link from Casio explaining the technology https://gshock.casio.com/intl/technology/radio/

[-] BlueOysterCultist@lemmy.zip 1 points 7 hours ago

They use that guy’s phone to set the atomic clock though, checkmate atheist

[-] TrapRag@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

My smart watch recently died and I found myself quickly glancing at my bare wrist then surveying my surroundings for a clock only to check my phone as a last resort. Before my smart watch, my phone was my default but I'd still see clocks, read them... and then check my phone immediately after.

Things like flyers, posters, communication boards etc, have completely blended into the scenery for me for as long as I can remember. Unless the active task is waiting with little to no distractions or entertainment I won't notice them.

[-] anothermember@feddit.uk 17 points 13 hours ago

I never look at my phone for the time, it's inconvenient to get out every time I want to check the time, but a wall clock is just there to glance over at.

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 12 points 12 hours ago

My default time is based on my mechanical wrist watch. Why should I dig out my phone outside of actually getting a phone call?

[-] anakin78z@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

"Alexa, what time is it?" is pretty common in my house. I do use my phone a lot for it, but I'm also more likely to get distracted if I do.

[-] e0qdk@reddthat.com 11 points 13 hours ago

For you, maybe, but for me it's my desktop's clock -- with my microwave as the fallback (e.g. when I'm playing a fullscreen game).

I basically only check the time on my phone if I'm out and about (which is... rare) or when I'm getting up/going to bed -- which also serves as a check for messages (since I have my phone on Do Not Disturb 24/7).

I actually bought a physical wall clock earlier this year thinking that I could stick it somewhere more convenient to read than the microwave, but the ticking was too damned annoying.

[-] dgriffith@aussie.zone 7 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

the ticking was too damned annoying.

If you still have the clock you can get a replacement "sweep" movement instead of the more common "step" movement.

You can buy them online from all sorts of places for ~15 dollars, e.g. clockshop.

[-] shneancy@lemmy.world 5 points 11 hours ago

i look at my wall clock quite a lot, mainly because it's easier for me to visualise the "distance" of time with it. and hour on my phone is not much different from 5min

[-] blackbeans@lemmy.zip 5 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Hmm. Can't remember that we used to go outside and walk to a clock tower just to set the time.

In the past, there was a phone number you could call on the landline which would tell you the exact time.

[-] Hexanimo@kbin.earth 4 points 10 hours ago
this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2026
51 points (100.0% liked)

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