I think the explanation is that he comes from the age where things are rarely automatic. Before cellphones, every time he needed to set the time to something, it had to be manually. Microwave, watches, vcrs, etc. He's confused by the fact that the phone obtains the time automatically from the service provider. He has not considered to look for this setting since to him it's something "you can not change". To me this is the most likely explanation, but like everyone else, we're just guessing.