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Kids cant read analog clocks anymore, new report says
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British schools will be removing analog clocks from their halls because teenagers at the school cant tell time, officials told The Telegraph. - photo by Herb Scribner
Some students just cant handle analog clocks.

British schools will be removing analog clocks from their testing areas because teenagers at those schools cant tell the time, officials told The Telegraph.

Teachers have started installing digital clocks instead.

It hasnt become the standard for teachers to take down analog clocks, according to BBC News, though. It appears to be the exception and not the rule.

Rather, teachers have announced their decisions on social media, according to the BBC. Two examples of the tweets were no longer available, but you can see images of those tweets here and here.

The decision came after students complained they couldnt read the analog clocks during a recent round of exams, igniting anxiety that they wouldn't finish their tests on time.

Officials told The Telegraph that todays youths have become used to digital clocks.

The current generation (isnt) as good at reading the traditional clock face as older generations, said Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, to The Telegraph. They are used to seeing a digital representation of time on their phone, on their computer. Nearly everything theyve got is digital so youngsters are just exposed to time being given digitally everywhere.

A report in the Times Educational Supplement about a recent conference said young people need digital clocks because they cant read older ones.

Schools, however, want students to focus on the exams rather than the time constraints they might have, according to Fox News. Officials said they hope students will stop worrying about the clocks.

Sally Payne, a senior pediatric occupational therapist at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, said children also have struggled recently to hold pencils and pens because of technology, The Blaze reported.

To be able to grip a pencil and move it, you need strong control of the fine muscles in your fingers, she told the Telegraph. Children need lots of (opportunities) to develop those skills.

She added that its easier to give a child an iPad than encouraging them to do muscle-building play such as building blocks, cutting and sticking, or pulling toys and ropes. Because of this, theyre not developing the underlying foundation skills they need to grip and hold a pencil.
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