Are you wearing a thing?

I believe that almost every adult would answer it wrongly by claiming that they wear a device. Said in the same breath with a thing, a device reinforces a beguiling conceit. It sounds more refined, more intellectual, perhaps even more pompous! The inclination to prefer a device over a thing is thus a result of a combination of basic ignorance and misplaced elitism. Could philosophy enlighten our understanding of this everyday matter of dressing?

Albert Borgman, a philosopher, teaches us that there are only two basic kinds of human artefacts. There are things and devices. A thing is embedded in a complex network of human activity and socialisation, while the point of a device lies only in what it does, which is disconnected from its creation. On the reckoning of Borgman, a mechanical watch, that is, a watch that is wound (by hand or the movement of a hand) and a quartz watch, that is, a watch powered by a battery – are each a thing, while a cellphone and a smartwatch are devices, although they too tell time, among others. By the way, even a television set and a radio tell time, but thankfully are not watches!