It's almost time to fall back - this weekend marks the end of daylight saving.  But over time it seems we've changed the way we tell time.  Has the tick of a wristwatch been silenced by the buzz of a ringtone?  This appears to be the case on the Drury campus.  Ask anyone you see if they have the time.

"It's 1:45," says a young co-ed, glancing down at the phone she produced from her pocket.  "Where's your watch?" I ask.  She explains that she doesn't have one. 
 
 
"Do you know what time it is?  It's 1:45.  Where's your watch?  Watch?  I don't have a watch."

Time marches on and so do students, cell phones in hand. They have the time, they just apparently don't have time to strap it on.  Trend tracking companies say as many as two-thirds of teenagers report they don't wear a watch and don't plan to.  Young adults who never developed the habit of wearing and using a watch likely never will.

"I wore one from the 4th grade until High School," says Drury student Russell Hollander.  "Then I got a cell phone and the watch seemed unnecessary."   

Could it be was once a necessity is now just a nuisance?   A mere shadow of the past?  With iPhones, iPods, computers and clocks in cars, most people can see why a watch seems like overkill.

"I look at my microwave for the time as much as I look at anything," says Tywanna Walker of the Drury Admissions Office, explaining why she hasn't worn a watch in about five years. 

Drury Bookstore clerk Sammy Williams can't remember the last time she sold one.  "Not very often," she says.  "Watches are not a hot commodity any more," she says, gesturing to a display of about a dozen watches in a plexiglass display case.  All have lost their battery power.   

Rick McIlvane of Maxon's Jewelers says, on the contrary, sales of high-end watches are ticking right along.  For celebrations and milestones like graduation and father's day the family heirloom is alive and well.

"My father passed away two years ago," Rick explains, "And my eldest brother still wears his watch.  You could not pass down his cell phone."

Some students own watches, others actually wear them - for the effect only.

"I see people in suits wear them, like when someone dresses up they put a watch on so I think it's become an accessory too," says student Brian Knox.  Others make excuses not to wear them. 

"My watch is orange so it doesn't really work out with many outfits that I wear," says Ben Hamilton.  "But the phone goes with everything."

"I don't understand it," says Drury Professor of Business Law Janice Prewitt.  "I couldn't survive without a watch."

Prewitt says the way students rely on their phone for a clock and alarm is, well, alarming..

"We do get 'the phone died, and therefore the alarm didn't go off' and that's why they missed the exam," Prewitt says. 

Jim Anderson says the phone and watch co-exist beautifully in his world.   "I rely on my cell phone to check the accuracy of my watch," Anderson says.

Market Research Company NPD Group says the overall dollar volume sales of watches is down 3-percent in the first half of 2009 as compared to the first half of 2008.  The company adds that watch sales are up 2-percent among teen boys ages 13-17 and up 8-percent among men 25-34.  The female demographic don't fare so well.  Overall sales among women age 13 and up is down 12-percent, but here's a steady positive trend in the 55 and older demographic.