You may have picked up on the news last week that a glitch on the iPhone caused problems after the alarm device failed to wake people at the pre-ordained time, writes Patrick Astill.
But do we really need an alarm any more? Is it just because our sleep patterns are so irregular that we need shaking out of bed in the morning?
I’m not so sure. I tend to wake up at the same time each day whether it’s due to an alarm or not, and when I switch it off at the weekend I’m wide awake the very second it was due to go off. Not an ideal scenario when I feel like I need a lie-in.
So is the actual time itself important? Hardly anyone sits down to watch television when the programme starts these days. Sky+ and other methods mean you can park yourself on the sofa late and watch it from the start ten minutes later than you should have done. Or even the next day.
Granted, you need to be on time if you’re catching a train. It is better to be half an hour early than half a second late, as my grandad used to say.
Public clocks are seldom anywhere near the right time, in fact most are probably only correct twice a day.
People start work when they like – there are fewer factories and production lines that need to start up all at the same time, and clocking in or out is a rarity. As long as you do your hours, they can be done at work, at home, or even on the train you jumped on (in the nick of time).
Perhaps that’s a good thing, as workers are then driven by tasks and results rather than clockwatching.
Even at school we are taught that when the bell goes, it’s a signal for the teacher, not the class.
And even the ubiquitous wristwatch may be on the way out. Isn’t it really just a piece of jewellery nowadays, an age when everyone seems to check their mobile phones to see what time it is?
A survey in 2009 even suggested that more than half of us wake up to a mobile phone rather than an alarm clock.
There’s a lot to be said for that – you can programme them with the dulcet tones of birdsong or classical music to avoid a jarring jolt back into consciousness.
That’s if you choose to use such a tool. And if you do, make sure it’s working properly – unlike the iPhone.
First published in the Lincolnshire Echo.
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