Analog clocks, sorobans, and slide rules

Over the past twenty years I have given much thought to analog clocks, sorobans, and slide rules.

The case of the analog clock is the simplest: for a time, it looked as though analog clocks and watches might be replaced completely by digital clocks and watches. That did not happen. Why? Because (I have surmised, and undoubtedly there is considerable research that backs me up) people cannot organize their time using a digital clock the way that they can with an analog. Twenty minutes on an analog clock is one-third of a pie.

I’ve thought less, but some, about sorobans. The word is that these analog calculators are still in use in Japan, where most people can add and subtract numbers more quickly with sorobans than they can with digital calculators. Apparently, a calculator is faster for multiplication and division. So, for a while (and it may still be the case), it was common to purchase a soroban with a calculator built on the side.

(A soroban looks and functions much like an abacus, but has a single row of beads in the second column rather than two rows.)

As for the poor forgotten slide rule: engineers tell me that calculators are superior in every way, and have been since Texas Instruments started producing them. I am skeptical, and will remain skeptical. I believe that a slide rule requires its user to
function at a higher level in order to do a calculation, and that the higher functioning has positive effects: checking, mental exercise.

Engineers tell me: rubbish.

Anyone want to weigh in on this? Am I making a fundamental category mistake by lumping slide rules with sorobans and analog clocks?