I have far too many clocks in my house for one single person. Just sitting here at the computer right now, I have NINE clocks at hand. Ten if you count my wristwatch. I know that I have far too many because I just went around the house and set all of my clocks of my clocks back one hour for Daylight Savings Time.
What is it with man and time?
Why must man measure out and control every tiny second of the day?
Back in the day, man would mark time with the sun. He would awake and get out of bed when the sun rose, and he would lay down and go to sleep shortly after the sun set. In the middle of the day, when the sun was directly overhead, he would put down his tools and have a bit of a rest and something to eat during the heat of the day.
These days it seems that every single electronic device that you purchase has a clock in it. It’s almost as if manufacturers need to justify their existence by adding a clock to their product.
“Hey, it might be a useless piece of tech but at least it has a clock in it!”
I think part of the reasoning behind manufacturers jamming a clock into everything they can find is because of what they call “standby power.” It should be a tip off when people call it “vampire power,” so why do manufacturers continue to add this “feature” to their devices? It’s costing us BILLIONS of dollars every year! Surely we, as consumers, can afford to wait a couple of seconds for our Idiot Boxes to power up before something appears on the screen, no? Apparently not! It’s all about time.
Deadlines are another tool of the “time people.” Why must people set arbitrary deadlines for things? In the industry I work in clients are forever setting arbitrary deadlines! Everything must end on time! I often hear, “This book must be finished by Friday.” and I think, “Why!?” When is this book going to print anyway? April in 20-freaking-10! So why are you setting arbitrary deadlines and unrealistic schedules? Why not do a proper job of it?!
I’ll tell you why… It’s all about time.
Time is money.
Time is relative.
Time is fleeting.
Time marches on.


