The Hands of Time

My friend and I were in the car the other day when she told me she had purchased a new watch. She put her wrist out and showed me her lime green watch. The first thing I thought about was how long it has been since I’d seen anyone my age wear a watch. The only watch’s I ever see my friends wear now a days are digital watches they use to keep track of their times running.
Later on in the night I asked my friend what time it was. She glanced down at the watch for a few minutes, looked confused, flashed it towards me and then said, “Whoah, I can’t even tell if it’s 7:45 or 8:45.” She looked for about 60 more seconds and then finally decided the hands on her watch read 8:45.
As she described, it had been so long since she’d looked at the time on a watch, more specifically a watch with hands. This is true for most people. In this day and age, it seems anytime someone is looking for the time they immediately take out their cell phones, read the numbers, and instantly know the time. There is no thinking involved.
We are living an age of instant gratification. When people in their teens and 20’s want something it is given to them immediately through social media and technology. Our minds have to do little work. Whether it’s typing a math problem into a calculator, texting to communicate, writing on someone’s Facebook wall or following a GPS….brain power is no longer as necessary.
Could this age of using our brains less actually hurt us in the future? They say one of the best things you can do for your muscles and body as you get older is lift weights and keep exercising. This is because our bodies need to be continually moving, working, and thinking to keep our body and brain fresh. They say to use your brain as much as possible as you age, because just like working out, it helps keep it in shape.
As much as technology has improved the world, it scares me that it has also hindered it. I really hope that as time goes on we don’t completely lose the value of knowing how to multiply, the value of a face to face conversation, and knowing how to get to a common place if our GPS dies.
Until then, I think I’ll do the simplest thing possible to keep my brain moving…buy a watch.




(http://bit.ly/9K4kuc)