this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2024
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Analog clocks are a better representation of how we think of time than a digital clock.
If someone looks and immediately afterwards someone asks them for the time, they will look at their watch again. The number isn't really what matters, it's "how long until X will happen" that matters more.
You know you're meeting is at 10:30, you see it's 9:55. You know it's about a half hour until the meeting, and the meeting will happen when that big hand gets to the bottom. The numbers themselves won't do that for you, you have to think 60 minutes in an hour, 60-5 = 5 + 30 = 35 minutes away. When you check the digital clock again you see 10:17, so you have to think 30-17 = 13 minutes until the meeting. But with an analog clock it's like a reusable progress bar (well progress arc to be more accurate). Quick glance and you see how far the minute hand has to go and you're good.
Sure the mental math needed to get a sense of time with a digital clock isn't all that hard. But it is an additional step over the adhoc progress arcs that analog clocks provide.
Digital clocks are fine and all, but are just slightly worse than analog clocks. Just how technology is going I guess, always giving us something that's technically more advanced but worse for humans to interface with.
Er, what? If I look at the clock and see it's 0955 I know exactly that it's 35 minutes. Same for every other example you give. If it's 1252, it's so easy to add 8 minutes then add whatever it is more. And you can do that for any time. Say 1017. "Oh no!" Never fear, the just add it to the time wangs are here: +13 to 30 and woah! Easy, foolproof and actually intuitive
1030-955=75. So intuitively, it would be 75 minutes until the meeting. Oh wait... maybe it's not intuitive?
210 degree arc is always going to be 35 minutes. Whether it's the 35 minutes from 9:55 to 10:30 or 9:50 to 10:25 or 3:15 to 3:50 or whatever. Sure you have to get used to the arcs. But once you do, it's a quick glance at the minute hand and seeing how far away it is from the time of the meeting (or whatever the next thing is). Time for a computer is a number, time for a human is how long until a thing is going to happen.