Have you noticed that very few people actually look at their wrist when you ask them, “What time is it?” I just wanted to take a quick second to identify that. There was a lot of speculation about this bucking trend a few years ago, but it’s really come to reality in the last couple years.
I haven’t worn a wristwatch on a daily basis in 5 years. I haven’t used an alarm clock in 2 years. There was a time when I’d throw one on if I were going on a date, but even those days died years ago. There was a time when I’d wake up every morning and smack the crap out of a piece of plastic on my bedside table. My wife still wears a watch, still smacks plastic, but she’s not what I would consider normal… er, I mean the “norm.” She has trouble adopting new technology: when I gave her a new Apple computer, she still used her PC for a couple months until she decided the Mac was better.
What happened in my life 5 years ago that changed an integral part of my punctuality? No, I’m not late all the time. In fact, if you asked me what time it was, I would pull out my iPhone and tell you. That’s right, I believe that the cell phone is killing the wristwatch… if it hasn’t done so already. 5 years ago, I dropped my landline and went wireless-only: a trend that many generations (mostly mine) have already embraced. Since that time, I’ve always had my cell phone in my pocket and I’ve always had the time. The time on my cell phone is more reliable than the traditional wristwatch because it updates directly from the wireless provider. We can all argue that our phones have had ‘issues’ but let’s set those aside for a bit. I’ve even replaced my alarm clock with my iPhone. My semi-trusty alarm clock is now sitting at the bottom of my storage trunk. I find it much more challenging to swipe the unlock button to turn off the alarm than just banging my fist on my old alarm clock. That makes my iPhone more reliable… as long as we don’t run into any more daylight savings bugs.
Is it really better to rely on your cell phone than a good old-fashioned wristwatch? Here’s a list of the benefits:
- Constant updates from the wireless provider, including daylight savings.
- Time doesn’t stop when it dies; recharge and you’re ready to go.
- Watch batteries are never easy to replace (neither are iPhone batteries…)
- Seems like a safer solution than the traditional alarm clock.
- A cell phone is a watch and everything else. A watch is… a watch.
- Your watch can’t check the weather for you.
We know the last two are kind of similar, but we want to point out that a cell phone — specifically a smart phone — is much more advanced than a watch and allows you to do more with one device than any wrist watch allowed in the many years they dominated the time-telling market.
Of course, you miss spending thousands of dollars on designer watches. Personally, I’d rather spend a couple hundred dollars on a phone — a computer, rather — that puts any wristwatch to shame. I don’t care about the status quo, I don’t care about designer this and that… and I definitely don’t care to have something suffocating my wrist all day. You can still spend thousands of dollars encrusting your iPhone with diamonds and gold if you’re truly worried about the status symbol.
10 years from now (probably more), we’ll have wireless communication on some sort of internal heads-up-display embedded into our heads that allow us to answer phone calls, check the weather and hold a video conference without ever taking a device out of our pocket. When we get there, I’ll probably act more like my wife: slow to adopt change.
For now, if you ask me what time it is, I’ll pull out my iPhone and show you. Anything else would be too archaic for my taste.
