HUMAN VS.

Human vs. Wristwatch

Nowadays checking the time means taking a gander at your cell phone, but there was an era when "time" and "phone" were two separate terms. The evolution of communication has made the cell phone the center of the lives of many people and the wristwatch has become a vestigial organ of society of which use is found mostly in nostalgia or the humorous irony of "primitive" decades (the 80s, 90s). So, the era of the wristwatch is passing quickly and the left wrists of thousands are now free, but its essence is still present in the sizable product it provided: convenience. Since it was once an important part of human lives, it seems appropriate to see what connection (if any) existed between humans and wristwatches.

Discussing such things as "connections" and "existence" inevitably ask about the idea of essence in order to reach a definition of such terms. As a wristwatch isn't a biological entity, it's the only point of comparison which can be seriously considered. How does the essence of humanity and the wristwatch compare, why is that important and what does it say about the current evolution of human civilization?

First, it's necessary to define essence. The idea of human essence has had many different interpretations. Western philosophy has focused on the "definition" of human essence, while Eastern philosophy has focused on the "emptiness" of human essence. There have been disputes as to whether it is ontological or intangible, universal or subjective or even whether it exists at all. Therefore, the point of comparison must rest on the essence of the wristwatch as it is the most easily defined. Essence, the reason or ultimate substance of an object, is difficult (some would say impossible) to define in human beings, in wristwatches it is quite simple: "time" and "convenience".

Time
Wristwatches experience time in an explicitly linear fashion. They always move forward. Although they can be changed and set according to particular changes in their environment (daylight savings or differing time zones), they always move in a linear fashion when set back into motion.
Human beings experience time in a variety of ways depending upon many different factors, but they have two fundamental experiences of all time: linear and cyclical. Linear moves in a straight line and cyclical moves in a circle. In modern society, linear time is the accepted form of time. Yet, in more ancient cultures, time was experienced cyclically. This was most common among hunter/gatherer as well as agrarian societies, which based their livelihood around the sun, moon and stars. As human civilization developed into cities, cyclical time became less important as people were encapsulated within metropolitan environments, which focused on an advancing, abstract technological progress. Yet, this differed from agrarian societies, which still depended on the cycle of the sun and moon and provided much of the sustenance of metropolitan societies.
Therefore, humans have a dualistic sense of time, which depends as much upon the area as the particular type of society.
Wristwatches, although their basic purpose requires them to be linear, do not all have a strictly linear motive. Digital wristwatches are, of course, completely linear; however, non-digital watches are designed as a small clock with a circular design: linear time which continues in a circle over and over and over, ironic in itself. Even human societies based in linear time experience it in a cyclical fashion as linear time continues for twenty four hours and then repeats.

Convenience
Wristwatches were designed for the explicit purpose of convenience, more specifically to provide the particular point in linear time from anywhere in the world. In fact, they have encouraged even further the absolute dependence on time by people in linear based societies. "Wristwatch convenience", in a sense, imprisons members of linear-based societies into an addiction to time unlike earlier linear societies. The essence of a wristwatch is to serve and allow human beings to serve the idea of time. Yet, wristwatches can also be changed to suit particular time zones, even set earlier or later encourage punctuality. They are a mechanism used to serve a need ingrained in human beings by the creation of societies based on mercantilism rather than agrarianism. Their very presence encourages adherence to a self-created sense of movement, life organized into artificial nodes or points.
Humanity has, since reverting to societies organized around the intangible concept of "money" and the concept of progress, have been without tangible methods of expressing the passing of moments. They have used numerous methods of time calculation (water, sand, etc.) with the most recent being the idea of the hour, minute and second and so on. Even something as seemingly ubiquitous as age has only recently been accepted by human societies as essential knowledge for a member of society. Earlier human societies held no or very little importance for the concept of age, rather organizing the movement of a human being through life through daily practices and certain rites of initiation to symbolize milestones such as adulthood, marriage and death. The modern human in nearly any setting considers age very important and many humans base their social health on their accomplishments at certain ages.

In conclusion, wristwatches and human beings mirror each other in many aspects in terms of essence. Both have dual aspects of time and adhere to a mechanical sense of time created as an interpretation of natural fluctuations. The switch from wristwatches to cell phones represents the further inundation of time within communication. Human beings now utilize the same device for understanding time as they do for contacting each other. Switching from the wristwatch to the cell phone indicates that the human universe has become more inclusive than it ever has been. The foundation of human communication is quickly becoming an artificial, rather an alternative sense of time and existence. Along with the internet and social networking, the fall of the wristwatch and the rise of the cell phone is another step in the intangible yet very real universe of current human progress.