Why I’m buying an alarm clock

Like many people around the world, each night I fall asleep with my phone on charge resting on the bedside table. It sits there tormenting me as I try to get to sleep, I can sometimes hear it whispering: ‘someone’s liked your status on Facebook’, it taunts; or ‘there’s an unread email from someone really important’, it teases; or ‘that thing you’re thinking about, well I can provide all the answers in just one google’, it tempts. Sadly I succumb, picking up the phone, remaining wired, tethered to the wall by the charger like a prisoner. Eventually I win, placing the phone down for the final time that day, freeing myself from the wire and falling asleep.

When morning comes the temptations build again. I’m an early riser, from as early as 5am onwards my mind starts to descend from dreaming to thinking. I wrestle to get more sleep. I can feel the cogs picking up speed, driving me to a fully awakened state. I want them to slow and with patience they would but the distractions are ever present, What did I miss during those eight hours of inactivity?

As always, I’ve missed nothing, but I don’t learn. I pick up the phone, trading further sleep for mindless activity, checking, loading, scrolling, swiping, kidding myself that what I’m doing is soaking up important knowledge, expanding my mind, making the most of every waking minute, and that being connected as much as possible is to be ahead of the curve, on the ball.

It’s bullshit, what I need to be more productive and creative, is to rest more and have more quality downtime. I need to be perfectly fine with doing nothing, which may sound like a horrible way to spend any amount of time, but the brain needs it. I know this but due to years of routine, and my increasing desire to feel stimulated, I now lack the discipline required to do something as basic as lying in bed without my phone in hand.

The solution to this problem is not an elaborate one, there’s no fancy app or new docking system, I’m just going to buy an alarm clock. The trusty, old alarm clock that can do nothing but tell the time and wake me up when I ask it to. The alarm clock can’t say anything, yes it may tick and tock but I won’t hear any provoking remarks about someone favouriting your tweet from this age old device. As for the phone, that will reside in another room, out of arm’s reach where I can here it no longer and try get some decent sleep.