FIRST of all a, a confession: I’m a massive fan of “old tech.”

I love newspapers and all printed media. I can’t find it in me to read a novel on my phone or even my Kindle. I still believe home-cooked food is best, can sew a button on a shirt (and even save the buttons from old shirts in a special button tin) and would actually darn holes in socks if only I had more time.

However, when it comes to new tech, I can’t imagine how we coped without Google (actually, I can – as a journalist I spent hours in the old Bolton News’ Library and Bolton Central Library looking up facts and researching), or mobile phones, iPads, iPods and computers.

I’ve ditched my watch for a Fitbit and have got used to going on catch-up TV to watch favourite programmes.

So, when it was highlighted by a teacher at a London conference that many teens can no longer read traditional clocks, I felt that this was just a sign of the times. Apparently, schools are instead installing digital clocks in exam halls so they can track the time.

We should not, though, be surprised by this. In fact, why on earth would youngsters understand something that, for many of them, hasn’t been influential growing up?

Digital life became entrenched in daily life some time ago and newer generations are bound to understand what they see around them.

It’s sad, I know, to think that some would now look at Big Ben and think it was just an interesting moving machine.

Older generations – and, in this case, that’s anyone over 30 – might have learned to tell the time even before they attended primary school. And having a traditional watch would have been seen as one of the major steps in growing up.

But, we cannot blame children for reacting to the technological changes that adults have made to the world. We developed things so that they were better – all children did was absorb this new knowledge and behave accordingly. And if that means the ultimate demise of traditional clocks, well, so be it.

There are always casualties to inventions and improvements. Some may take longer than others to make a major difference but it will still happen. Who knows? Slightly further down the line, digital developments may one day simply be considered an interesting page in human history.