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A comment on NYC phone ban reveals some students can't read clocks. Parent comment

Re:NYC phone ban reveals some students can't read clocks by Animats on Friday December 26, 2025 @04:25PM (#46396438)
> This makes me wonder what methods of transferring information we may have lost historically that we don't even recognize?

- Gregg shorthand.

- Labanotation (like music scores, but for dance)

- Morse code

- Punched tickets (not for machines, but for train tickets and bus transfers)

- Railroad car chalk markings (where does this car go?)

- Hand signals for railroad yards, cranes, etc.

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Re:NYC phone ban reveals some students can't read clocks by OgsyedIE on Friday December 26, 2025 @06:17PM (#46397436)
Just gonna jump in here with three more:

- Telegraph brevity codes (e.g. Bentley, Marconi)

- Telex codes and various predecessors to ASCII (plus even what Telex hardware looks like in a lot of cases)

- Heraldry

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Re:NYC phone ban reveals some students can't read clocks by doom2 on Friday December 26, 2025 @11:49PM (#46399235)
> - Morse code

I would argue that Morse code is not only alive and well in the amateur radio hobby but actively being adopted by younger people both in and out of the hobby. I just got a holiday card from a college friend whose 6 year old has taken an interest in Morse code despite knowing nothing about the existence of amateur radio.

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Re:NYC phone ban reveals some students can't read clocks by lucyjojo on Saturday December 27, 2025 @02:46AM (#46400012)
ham radio license holders in japan:

1994 ~1.3M

2025 340k (lots of old people)

and they dropped morse code from the exam requirements in 2011.

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Re:NYC phone ban reveals some students can't read clocks by doom2 on Saturday December 27, 2025 @09:22AM (#46402036)
Ok? Just because there has been a drop in the number of licensees and the exam no longer requires Morse code wouldn't necessarily put Morse on a list of "methods of transferring information we may have lost historically that we don't even recognize".

At least in the US, ham radio is far from a dying hobby and Morse code is actively being learned by people of all ages.

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