Time To Give It A Rest
I kind of figured it was something that was specific to my family only. But then one day I got into my buddy’s car and lo and behold his clock was set five minutes fast – on purpose. So I attributed this absurd mind game to youth. But here we are, old and working and nowhere near youth and it seems like more often than not, people are still setting their clocks 3, 5, 7 minutes fast on purpose. I mean, asking why seems like the least I can do…
It’s one thing when you’re a kid. That I get. Set your clock five minutes early, wake up at 6:30 and get ready for school, chow down on some Corn Pops or Sugar Smacks, race out to make sure you don’t miss the bus and OH MY GOD! It’s only 7:15! You’ve got five whole minutes to relax. See, this whole scenario works because when you’re a kid, you’re stupid. I’m sorry. I know you thought you were smart for your age and well ahead of the curve, but you weren’t. You know how I know? You wanted to be an astronaut.
But fast forward to today, and I really did think we as a society would have grown out of this foolishness. For those of you out there who set the clock in your car five minutes or seven minutes or whatever ahead of time, does this really work? Can you possibly be this obtuse? All I know is when I get in a car and look at the clock, I want to know what time it is. And if it was my car, and it was set five minutes fast, I’d know it was set five minutes fast immediately.
For example: I get in my car to go to work. I start my car. The clock flashes on. it says 8:53. (Yes, I go to work late). If I were one of these set-my-clock-ahead-on-purpose people, I’d know immediately that it’s 8:48 and I’d relax.
“8:48. Cool.”
That’s what I’d say. Probably out loud even. But is all that really necessary? Why even take those extra mental leaps? Now, I don’t want to come across as crass here, even though I probably will, but if you read this site with any regularity, you probably do it to laugh a little, maybe think a little – at least to have that “that’s so true” moment every now and then. Because you’re smart. You get it. So I have a really hard time believing that setting your clock ahead is actually doing you any good whatsoever.
What I imagine happening is you driving someplace that you had to be at by 9 and it’s 9:03 and now you’re freaking out that over time your clock has slowed a bit and it might not be five minutes fast anymore, but only three, or even two! Now you’re freaking out and you’re already speeding and it’s all cause you thought you were tricking yourself. Which, as we all know, never works. The mind is a terrible master.
So please, give yourself some credit. Your brain, and probably your blood pressure, hate you. You know you have this internal battle every single time you look at the clock. And if you don’t, well, that’s really not a good sign of things to come.
So what do you think, dear readers? Agree? Disagree? I know this happens to you all out there, so please, share…
Really? People still do this? I have an atomic clock so that I can know with certainty, the exact time at any given moment. Not only that, I have an atomic watch, for guess why? The very same purpose. Nothing is more stupid than someone who contiunally arrives late because their clock tells the incorrect time (be it early or late).
my alarm clock is still set a few minutes fast. ever other clock or watch i have is set to the correct time. i don’t find myself relaxing or stressing with this though.
what i do have issue with currently is setting my alarm for 6:30 with intentions of working out or being productive in some other way, only to hit snooze for an hour or so. why?
this isn’t productive sleep. worse yet, i feel disappointed in myself that i lack the discipline any longer to get up on the first alarm ring (actually the first sound of horrible radio*). i used to rise from bed the first time my alarm went off. sometime in college is when i finally discovered the snooze and it’s been nothing but a curse. i wish it didn’t exist.
*- people still listen to the radio? it’s quite possibly the worst thing i can imagine. here’s a device in 2009 (almost twenty ten. i hope we don’t call it two thousand ten) that gives you almost zero control over what music you get to listen to and bombards you with horrible advertising (shooting myself here) at a ratio that at best seems to be 1/1 content/advertisement. it just disturbs me. npr may get a pass, but that’s just because its quiet, i can somewhat zone it out while simultaneously feel like an intellectual. thanks guys