this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2026
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41056130

At least 31 states and the District of Columbia restrict cell phones in schools

New York City teachers say the state’s recently implemented cell phone ban in schools has showed that numerous students no longer know how to tell time on an old-fashioned clock.

“That's a major skill that they're not used to at all,” Tiana Millen, an assistant principal at Cardozo High School in Queens, told Gothamist of what she’s noticed after the ban, which went into effect in September.

Students in the city’s school system are meant to learn basic time-telling skills in the first and second grade, according to officials, though it appears children have fallen out of practice doing so in an increasingly digital world.

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[–] retype@lemmy.world 69 points 5 days ago (10 children)

Pains me that the article calls them "old" clocks and not "analog" clocks.

[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 51 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I heard a story about a kid telling an adult that they couldn’t read “circle time.” That any better?

[–] retype@lemmy.world 24 points 5 days ago

Only slightly! 😂

[–] thenextguy@lemmy.world 28 points 5 days ago (2 children)
[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 4 days ago

Behold, your analog clock.

[–] Billygoat@piefed.social 9 points 5 days ago (2 children)

🎵Then put your little hand in mine!🎵

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 37 points 5 days ago (17 children)

Maybe someone should teach them...

One of the greatest dangers to a society is people assuming anything is innate or the next generation will magically know shit.

Nobody taught these kids how to read a clock. So they don't know how to read a clock.

This is a very minor thing, but it's an easier concept to grasp than the abstract concept of empathy we also stopped teaching kids.

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 15 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (4 children)

I'm a millennial and I was taught how to read a clock in 2nd grade. Are they not teaching this basic skill anymore?

[–] Wren@lemmy.today 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm a millenial, too. Even I use my phone or computer to tell time more often than anything. Before smart phones we had some solid years relying on wall clocks and watches. It was a skill we kept using after we learned it, unlike a lot of kids who haven't needed to flex that muscle since they were taught.

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah but smartwatches exist and digital watch faces look awkward on the ones with a round dial. Plus I have an analog clock on the wall for when the watch is charging and I don't feel like pulling out my phone... So it's still a useful skill to have.

[–] Wren@lemmy.today 1 points 2 days ago

Not saying it isn't useful, but that it's understandable someone might not have that skill.

[–] RickyRigatoni@retrolemmy.com 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

What decade were you in second grade?

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

The mid 90s, LONG after digital clocks were already ubiquitous.

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[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago (3 children)

You didn't even have to read the article, just the excerpt from OP. "students are taught to read analog clocks in first and second grade in city public schools".

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[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

which new york teacher was stunned because i have questions

Right, find me one. Teachers everywhere said kids can't read analog clocks long before cellphone bans.

[–] the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 14 points 5 days ago

I learned to read an analog clock in elementary school. If schools aren't teaching it anymore idk why they're shocked that kids don't know how.

[–] OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Bet they can't dial a rotary phone or hitch a horse to a wagon either.

[–] skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You should see them with a kerosene lamp.

[–] kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This is dishonest, because unlike horses and kerosene lamps, analog clocks are in every (european) town, on the churches, matkets, train stations etc..

[–] lurch@sh.itjust.works 20 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Maybe it wasn't such a major skill after all 😄

Also, I'm old and remember waking up after partying hard and looking at an analog clock, not knowing whether it's AM or PM. Those clocks suck. 24h or nothing. Also radio-controlled clocks are a blessing ngl.

[–] blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 18 points 5 days ago (4 children)

Looking at the sky will often help with distinguishing AM vs PM

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago (5 children)

5 in my winter is about the same.

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[–] Tanoh@lemmy.world 10 points 5 days ago

Having a proper time format helps more

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[–] finalarbiter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 5 days ago

I know by radio-controlled clock you probably meant the ones that automatically set the time, but I'm now imagining a kid with an RC car controller making the clock spin really fast

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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I taught my gen-z kid to read an analog clock because I knew no one else would. I know he learned it.

He's 27 now, and living back at home. Recently, we were in the kitchen and the cat was asking to be fed. He said, "I don't think it's time yet..." and then went to his room to check the time on his phone. The same analog clock he learned to read is on the wall in the kitchen, where it's been his entire life. Apparently, he didn't practice at all after I taught him and tested him on it, and now can't read it? I dunno, I didn't ask, I didn't want to make a whole thing out of it.

[–] basxto@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 day ago

Well, I can convert it, but it takes time. I’ve been told that people who think in analog time rather view it as a kind of progress bar and only convert it to the exact minute number when they are asked for the time by somebody else.

[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Like a foreign language, use it or lose it.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 9 points 4 days ago

"Old clocks"

[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 5 points 4 days ago

You're a teacher? Teach!

[–] Tigeroovy@lemmy.ca 10 points 5 days ago

They seem bad at computers a lot of the time too. I know right wingers like to make public schools lives hell by slashing budgets constantly but like damn.

[–] Territorial@piefed.ca 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

This is not surprising at all. Even when taking about time relative to the analog clock, it gets difficult, a lady asked me for the time at Walmart, and she could not understand "half past six". When I clarified that's 6:30, she finally got it.

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[–] texture@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

i went back to school last year and only a couple of my classmates under 30 could read clocks. kind of amazing.

[–] sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 9 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I remember when I was in 5th grade, back in the early '80s, a kid didn't know how to tell time on a clock. The adults then blamed the popularity of digital wristwatches. On one hand it doesn't really matter, on the other it's a great introduction to visualizing alternate numbering systems.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

We are the same age and I had my first analog wristwatch in 1st grade. When my niece was 4 in '86 or so I taught her to read a clock. Weird world, guess it's not all about age.

[–] xx3rawr@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 days ago

I was in 5th grade back in 00's and if you don"t knoe how to tell time on a clock, you get made fun of. It offers a different, a more intuitive, perception of progressing time. It's more like a progress bar than just counting numbers

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