Watches
Watches
[A timeline shows the following years but extends further in both directions:] 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 [A grey box extends from the left border to approximately 2005 and another grey box begins approximately at 2015 and continues to the right border. They are labeled:] Regular watches Smart watches [An arrow points up to the empty period between 2005 and 2015. Below the arrow is written:] Brief, glorious period in which our wrists were free

This comic coincides with the announcement of a new smart watch by Apple earlier in the week as of the comic's release date (9th Sept 2014), the Apple Watch , along with a large emphasis on smartwatches at IFA 2014 (Sept 5-10), particularly 'Android Wear'.
The timeline shows a period approximately from 2005 to 2015 where our wrists were liberated from the tethers of wearing a watch, likely attributed to the fact that many instead used a mobile smartphone to tell the time.
Whilst other smartwatches have been released in the past, Randall predicts that the typical widespread interest following Apple product releases (combined with many other new releases by other companies) will result in our wrists again being shackled in the grip of watches from 2015. The wording of the label suggests that Randall is pre-emptively mourning the imminent loss of freedom of his and others' wrists, though this may be humorous hyperbole/sarcasm, as his position has generally been of apathy, such as in 1215: Insight .
The title text refers to how "old people" tend to express derision towards change (generally most widely accepted by 'young people') as not being like it was "in the good old days", even if this means they contradict themselves. Initially, the wearing of watches was viewed negatively by the older generation, but now not wearing a watch is instead negative. The second part of the title text starts as if Randall is going to express an opinion on wearing a watch but then veers off to mock the word " thinkpiece ," due to its (particularly recent ) connotation for lacking factual content and expressing biased opinions. For more details on thinkpiece see this article . By equating thinkpiece with brain , Randall is making a reference to the fact that this compound word does not follow the convention of the compound word timepiece , which is a synonym for watch .
[A timeline shows the following years but extends further in both directions:] 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 [A grey box extends from the left border to approximately 2005 and another grey box begins approximately at 2015 and continues to the right border. They are labeled:] Regular watches Smart watches [An arrow points up to the empty period between 2005 and 2015. Below the arrow is written:] Brief, glorious period in which our wrists were free
