I’ll call you back at the second blue light

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Who needs a watch with numbers on it anyway? I mean, OMG that’s so analogue.

Credit must be given to popgadget, for this blog post about Tokyoflash, a company making watches that are more artistic in nature and less function oriented. Well, not so much less function oriented, but more function for a specific audience.

I’m thinking of this in terms of technological literacy. I, personally, have a tough time reading the ye-olde circular clock with hour, minute, and second hands. (I always miss by about an hour; and, really, should anything have 3 hands?). And, I don’t even wear a watch–it’s the digital readout on my cell phone for me. The thing is, I can read the LED readouts on these watches. Is this a generational thing? Since I’ve grown up around more microchips than gears, is this merely a comfort level?

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Or would this be an interest thing? Will only the geeky people be willing to wear something like this? It’d either be really cool or really dorky (ie the calculator watch. Nerdville for sure. It just screams Dungeons & Dragons and living in your parents’ basement at 35). And then who would teach the non-techno forward people this kinda gear and would they really care to learn? Are these the watches of the future? Would we all need to learn how to read these specific displays? Mmm, probably not, but who knows, it could happen.

I’m just curious about how my mother would handle something like this. Well, I suppose I don’t have to wonder; she wouldn’t handle it very well. She’d take one look at it and say that the lights are pretty, but it’s a bracelet–not a watch. So, now that brings in the artistic side of things, doesn’t it. It’s visually pleasing–to me, at least–but I’m all about the modern avant-garde mish-mash. I do like the way this brings function into beauty though. It serves a purpose while being a vehicle for visual expression and design. I could live in a future like that. A future that compresses the usefulness of something with artistic vision and, honestly, if I had $200 to drop on a watch, I’d go for one of these.

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“Growing Up Online”

And we’re back to my love of PBS, Frontline this time, with a special about technology’s effect on teenagers. Especially interesting is chapter two, “A Revolution in Classrooms and Social Life.” I have to admit to being a little miffed at “everybody uses Sparknotes” or “nobody reads books” concepts as a technologically advanced young person who does indeed do her own reading. (Though, I will admit to being overly excited at such available online books services such as DailyLit.com, which sends a user multiple easily consumptive sections of books for free by email or RSS feed if they’re in the public domain and for a minimal fee if they’re a contemporary work.) Sure, it’s been a few years since I’ve been in high school (thank god), but it’s extremely disconcerting to me to think that the advance of technology has left someone in English studies thinking that they don’t have a place anymore. I mean, did mathematicians freak out at the advent of the calculator? I think not. They used that tool to their benefit (even those in love with the abacus), as other technologies can be used to benefit other areas as well.

It is ironic that I watched this online though, no?

Ze link…

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/