That Sunday I woke up “naturally” at the crack of dawn somewhat annoyed that I was unable to sleep longer. I decided to laze around with a book before I “surfaced” for an appointment. I then ran some errands at a leisurely pace and the daylight hours passed uneventfully.
That evening I was astonished to discover, unbeknown to me, time had shifted – at 3am earlier that morning.
What I had believed – that I woke an hour earlier than my usual hour – was in fact not the case. I woke up at the “correct” hour according to my body. My machines had seamlessly adjusted their time so I did not miss my appointment, and in so doing I was oblivious to this annual occurrence of moving the clock back an hour when daylight saving ended.
I realised I in fact no longer check for when daylight saving begins or ends. I used to mark those days so I could manually adjust the clocks and manage my appointments. I have now “outsourced” this to machines, relying on them to be accurate and correct. This is a convenience and a slight relief for my attention
That Sunday I did wake up naturally at the crack of dawn. Natural as my body clock dictated, and at the crack of dawn because the clock has shifted back an hour. So while my machines adjusted immediately, my body technology will take some time. In fact I haven’t adjusted my body clock, choosing instead to sleep and wake when my body tells me to.
I wonder when our outsourcing to and reliance on machines becomes more than a convenience and unhelpful?
When does it become a forgetfulness and a dismissal?
Was it when we stopped learning the signs of impending weather, instead relying on forecasts provided by machines? Was it when we stopped reading the signs of the changing of seasons, relying on a set date each year for convenience? Was it when we choose to believe our machines more than listening to our body?
Will it be when we set on our machines a reminder birthday greeting to a loved one and conveniently forget to do so personally? Will it be when we rely on them to “advise” us on what to wear – the correct style combination and colours – that we lose the independence of mind to do so?
Will it be when we forget the technology that is the human body, in preference for the technology that is comparatively more enduring, more accurate and more importantly gives us greater convenience? I love technology, and I do wonder sometimes what we give over and what is enough.
Not once that entire Sunday did I question why my body woke me up at the crack of dawn, to question the incongruence of the flickering numbers I saw on my machines.
What else will we take for granted?
In contemplation,
~ FlorenceT
© 2022 FlorenceT Copyright reserved. The author asserts her moral and legal rights over this work.
MEANINGS AND MUSINGS 