To watch or not watch

When was the last time you looked at your wristwatch or even a wall clock to check what time it is? It’s always been the mobile phone, whenever we want to check the time, especially in the morning when we wake up from bed.

One early morning, while on my way to work, an elderly woman approached me and asked: “What time it is?” I’m quite sure it was the watch on my wrist which attracted her to me and the funny aspect was that I checked on my phone, forgetting I was wearing a wristwatch.

This little incident made me reminisce about the number of times I have had to refer to my phone to check the time even though I always wear a wristwatch.

Time they say is money and it is very key in scheduling our daily activities or everyday life, it keeps us on track, and almost everything hovers around time in the fast-paced 21st Century.

Clocks and watches are known for precision timekeeping. Before the innovation of mobile/cell phones, clocks and watches were vital because they were the most reliable means of telling time.

Clocks were very functional in that regard and also played a part in room decoration, coming in varying shapes, sizes and colors. 

Some clocks even rung at every hour to indicate what time it was.

But advancements in technology with its attendant smartphones innovations seems to be rendering wall clocks and wristwatches obsolete.

The 2018 Jumia Annual Mobile Report revealed that Ghana is one of Africa’s largest mobile markets, with about 34.57 million subscribers and a penetration rate of 119%.

The report further projected that Ghana's mobile subscription will hit about 40 million in the next two years.

Nowadays, some Ghanaians only wear wrist watches as a fashion accessory as the device is no longer exclusively meant for telling the time.

 Ask them to tell you the time and they would either reply with all manner of funny answers like; “ooh it's just for fashion", "it's not working", "my time is not correct” or “let me check on the phone".

For hundreds of years, clocks were the height of precision timekeeping and gave humans the best means of tracking time, regulating schedules and controlling the flow of our daily routines.

They were needed by governments, businesses, religions, schools, and media houses before the advent of portable pocket watches and wrist watches which have all but phased clocks out.

There are new types of watches emerging, marketed as “smart watches”, these devices are able to tell time digital format and some come with the added functionality of internet access and receiving phone calls as well as messages.

Mobile phones have revolutionized how Ghanaians keep track of time and although there remains a growing market for high-end time-pieces, some analysts have projected that the devices will replace most analogue and digital watches.

I recently conducted a random survey across of some offices in Accra which found that most wall clocks were not working and some offices did not have them at all.

Some staff at the offices, I interacted with said although they maintained functioning wall clocks, they did not have a need for them as they relied mostly on their mobile phones to tell the time.

A Web Designer, Shadrach Kankam admitted that he always checks his clock when he wakes from bed but rarely uses his wrist watches for checking the time when he is out and about.

He said: “Though clocks are fading away, that is the first thing I look at whatever I wake up from bed. I have two wrist watches, one works, and the other is for fashion.

Interestingly, another wristwatch wearer Patrice Yirenkyi said he still wears his because it makes him look serious and more “business-like” while Fiifi Afful said timepieces was just a fashion statement as he still relies on his mobile phone.

Female wrist watch users also preferred them for fashion rather than precision timekeeping.

“It is easy using the phone to check time than the wristwatch, my wristwatch works but I don’t use it monitor my time, it is just for fashion,” Suad Yakubu said.

By: Bridget Aazore Yuora