Editing 1420: Watches

{{comic
| number    = 1420
| date      = September 12, 2014
| title     = Watches
| image     = watches.png
| titletext = Old people used to write obnoxious thinkpieces about how people these days always wear watches and are slaves to the clock, but now they've switched to writing thinkpieces about how kids these days don't appreciate the benefits of an old-fashioned watch. My position is: The word 'thinkpiece' sounds like a word made up by someone who didn't know about the word 'brain'.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More details.}}
This comic coincides with the announcement of a new [https://www.apple.com/watch/ smart watch] by Apple earlier in the week (9th Sept 2014). 

The timeline shows a period from 2005 to 2015 where our wrists were liberated from the tethers of wearing a watch, likely attributed to the fact that almost everybody instead used a mobile phone to tell the time.

While there are other smart watches available and planned, the typical widespread adoption of any product by Apple means Randall predicts that from 2015 our wrists will again become shackled in the grip of watches. The wording of the label suggests that Randall is pre-emptively mourning the freedom of his and others wrists.

The title text refers to how 'old people' tend to express derision anything that the younger generation does as not being as good as how things used to be in the good old days, even if this means they contradict themselves. At first wearing a watch was negative according to the older generation, but now all of a sudden ''not'' wearing an old-fashioned watch is instead negative. The second part of the title text starts as if Randall is going to express an opinion on wearing a watch, but then veers off to mock the word '{{w|think piece|thinkpiece}}' as sounding like a made up word for brain. For more details on ''thinkpiece'' see this [http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/05/07/thinkpiece_definition_and_history_roots_of_the_word_show_it_has_long_been.html article].

==Transcript==
: [An axis from left to right with the dates 1990 - 2000 - 2010 - 2020 - 2030]
: A grey box labeled "REGULAR WATCHES" from the left border to approximately 2005 and a grey box starting approx. 2015 and continuing to the right border labeled "SMART WATCHES"
: An arrow pointed at the empty period between 2005 and 2015 in the line above with the text "Brief, glorious period in with our wrists were free"


{{comic discussion}}
@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-This comic coincides with the announcement of a new [https://www.apple.com/watch/ smart watch] by Apple earlier in the week as of the comic's release date (9th Sept 2014), the {{w|Apple Watch}}, along with a large emphasis on {{tvtropes|GadgetWatches|smartwatches}} at IFA 2014 (Sept 5-10), particularly 'Android Wear'.
+{{incomplete|More details.}}
+This comic coincides with the announcement of a new [https://www.apple.com/watch/ smart watch] by Apple earlier in the week (9th Sept 2014).
-The timeline shows a period approximately from 2005 to 2015 where our wrists were liberated from the tethers of wearing a watch, likely attributed to the fact that many instead used a mobile smartphone to tell the time.
+The timeline shows a period from 2005 to 2015 where our wrists were liberated from the tethers of wearing a watch, likely attributed to the fact that almost everybody instead used a mobile phone to tell the time.
-Whilst other smartwatches have been released in the past, Randall predicts that the typical widespread interest following Apple product releases (combined with many other new releases by other companies) will result in our wrists again being shackled in the grip of watches from 2015. The wording of the label suggests that Randall is pre-emptively mourning the imminent loss of freedom of his and others' wrists, though this may be humorous hyperbole/sarcasm, as his position has generally been of apathy, such as in [[1215: Insight]].
+While there are other smart watches available and planned, the typical widespread adoption of any product by Apple means Randall predicts that from 2015 our wrists will again become shackled in the grip of watches. The wording of the label suggests that Randall is pre-emptively mourning the freedom of his and others wrists.
-The title text refers to how "old people" tend to express derision towards change (generally most widely accepted by 'young people') as not being like it was "in the good old days", even if this means they contradict themselves. Initially, the wearing of watches was viewed negatively by the older generation, but now ''not'' wearing a watch is instead negative. The second part of the title text starts as if Randall is going to express an opinion on wearing a watch but then veers off to mock the word "{{w|think piece|thinkpiece}}," due to its (particularly [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/think%20piece recent]) connotation for lacking factual content and expressing biased opinions. For more details on ''thinkpiece'' see this [http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/05/07/thinkpiece_definition_and_history_roots_of_the_word_show_it_has_long_been.html article]. By equating ''thinkpiece'' with ''brain'', Randall is making a reference to the fact that this compound word does not follow the convention of the compound word ''timepiece'', which is a synonym for ''watch''.
+The title text refers to how 'old people' tend to express derision anything that the younger generation does as not being as good as how things used to be in the good old days, even if this means they contradict themselves. At first wearing a watch was negative according to the older generation, but now all of a sudden ''not'' wearing an old-fashioned watch is instead negative. The second part of the title text starts as if Randall is going to express an opinion on wearing a watch, but then veers off to mock the word '{{w|think piece|thinkpiece}}' as sounding like a made up word for brain. For more details on ''thinkpiece'' see this [http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/05/07/thinkpiece_definition_and_history_roots_of_the_word_show_it_has_long_been.html article].
 ==Transcript==
-:[A timeline shows the following years but extends further in both directions:]
+: [An axis from left to right with the dates 1990 - 2000 - 2010 - 2020 - 2030]
-:1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
+: A grey box labeled "REGULAR WATCHES" from the left border to approximately 2005 and a grey box starting approx. 2015 and continuing to the right border labeled "SMART WATCHES"
-:[A grey box extends from the left border to approximately 2005 and another grey box begins approximately at 2015 and continues to the right border. They are labeled:]
+: An arrow pointed at the empty period between 2005 and 2015 in the line above with the text "Brief, glorious period in with our wrists were free"
-:Regular watches
-:Smart watches
-:[An arrow points up to the empty period between 2005 and 2015. Below the arrow is written:]
-:Brief, glorious period in which our wrists were free
 {{comic discussion}}
-[[Category:Charts]]
-[[Category:Timelines]]