I know that The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which has enabled bright and energy saving white light sources, but I just turned a new leaf to put down all LEDs and computer screens after a certain hour.
For years I have been using my iPhone as an alarm clock. Every night I would set it within a few minutes of 7:00 a.m.. On Mondays, I might "sleep in" a little and set it for 7:04. But whatever I set it to, I always managed to check a little email before going to sleep. Even though I promised myself, "No email. Just set the darn clock."
"Maybe just one email," I'd say to myself. And before I knew it, I had gone through 10 of them and was once again jazzed up from not only the bright light of the screen but the content of the emails and the mostly call-to-actions they communicated, e.g., "Let's meet tomorrow at 9:30 to discuss," or "Can you take photos at the event?" or "When will the Table of Contents be finished?"
All very relaxing messages. NOT.
So I took a step to turn back time. I bought myself a 1931 Big Ben alarm clock. It has no bright back light and makes no swishing sounds. It emits a gentle low volume ring that is reminiscent of waking up in 4th grade to go to school. Rather than keep me nervewrackingly awake like my iPhone screen does, the Big Ben lulls me to sleep. It's a silent sweep to Dreamland without all the tones, beeps, and cu-ca-racha.
Today, you, too, fall back in time with or without Big Ben. Remember to turn back your clocks one hour. It's Daylight Savings Time. Good luck to the NYC Marathon runners! (I heard they can trim off an hour of their running time because the race takes place on Daylight Savings Day.)
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