Why You Should Reinstate the Classic Alarm Clock傳統鬧鐘有益處

I have reinstated the alarm clock. An overlooked mechanism in today’s technologically-synced， your-phone-does-everything world， it tells the time， it wakes you up， it is decentralized from a phone. It is marvelous. Why？ Because before I brought an analogue1 clock back into my bedroom， I was averaging two hours and 56 minutes of screen time per week， and my phone told me this every Monday， moments after my alarm would sound.

我重新用上了傳統鬧鐘。在如今這個科技日新月異、手機無所不能的時代，傳統鬧鐘是個被忽視的機械裝置，但它能顯示時間，能把人叫醒，而且不必與手機關聯。傳統鬧鐘很了不起，為何這樣說呢？因為在我把指針式鬧鐘擺回臥室之前，我平均每周消耗2小時56分鐘看手機，而我的手機在每周一鬧鐘響起后不久就會向我報告一周的屏幕使用時間。

And， every morning， while only trying to tap “snooze，” I’d be confronted by a flurry of notifications piling up behind one another like a card game of solitaire on the screen. My phone would tell me that my friends were feeling chatty last night with 34-plus WhatsApp messages; there would be Instagram alerts and dozens of emails from multiple accounts. The notifications would fill me with dread and stress about the day ahead before I’d even had my morning coffee.

每天清晨，當我只想點一下手機上的“稍后提醒”鍵，迎面襲來的卻是一連串消息通知。它們在屏幕上一個疊一個，好像玩起了單人紙牌游戲。我的手機會用超過34條的WhatsApp聊天記錄讓我知道，頭天晚上朋友們聊得起勁；此外還有“照片墻”的通知以及從多個賬號發來的大量電子郵件。還沒喝上早晨的咖啡，所有消息通知就已經讓我對即將開始的一天充滿恐懼與焦慮。

I didn’t realize it at the time， but my old analogue clock—a compact， travel model—was a low-key luxury. Its design would have paled in comparison to the latest iPhones， but it did its one job very well; its punctuating and shrill screech was effective at waking me up every morning. Pertinently， it wasn’t filling my mind with chatter， bad news and deadlines before the day had begun.

我的指針式舊鬧鐘屬于小巧便攜款，以前沒意識到，它真是個低調的奢侈品。與最新款的蘋果手機比起來，它的設計可能并不起眼，但它卻很好地發揮著自己的功能——那斷斷續續的刺耳鈴聲每天清晨總能輕松把我喚醒。關鍵是，它不會在一天還沒開始的時候就讓閑言碎語、壞消息和截止日期塞滿我腦袋。

Changing habits

不斷變化的叫醒方式

I made the switch from alarm clock to phone about 10 years ago after I told someone what I thought was a funny story about how my alarm clock had once gone off in my suitcase while in the trunk of a taxi， forcing us to pull over so I could retrieve it. The story provoked bemusement. “You use an actual alarm clock？” they asked， as though it was a fax machine. “Why don’t you use your phone！” Oh， I thought. Why don’t I？ I probably didn’t even know I could at the time. But I succumbed to peer pressure and did away with2 my old clock. And that’s when the luxury of waking up without notifications ended， and the misery of glancing at them in the middle of the night when I checked the time on my phone began.

我大約是從10年前開始用手機鬧鐘代替傳統鬧鐘的，那時我跟別人說起一段我自以為滑稽的經歷：有一回乘出租車，我裝有鬧鐘的手提箱放在后備箱里，鬧鐘突然響起來，我們不得不靠邊停車，好讓我關掉響鈴。這個故事引發了人們的困惑。“你還在用鬧鐘？”他們問道，仿佛鬧鐘和傳真機一樣是早就過時的東西。“你為什么不用手機的鬧鐘功能呢？”哦，我想，為什么不用呢？可能當時我甚至都不知道手機有鬧鐘功能。迫于同齡人的壓力，我還是收起了舊鬧鐘。于是，從睡夢中醒來時不受消息通知打擾的舒心清靜就此結束，取而代之的是半夜在手機上看時間的同時查看消息通知的痛苦無奈。

As our use of cell phones continues to grow， wellness experts say it is having a negative impact on our morning routines.

我們用手機的頻率持續增長，健康專家表示，這會對我們清晨的例行活動造成負面影響。

“When you wake up first thing， the ideal is to wake up and spend a little bit of time within your own mind before you’re bombarded with everything else in the world that’s going on. Give yourself a chance to adjust to the waking world，” said mental health and wellbeing coach Lily Silverton. “Historically we’re not used to having our attention taken away as much as it is today.”

“清早醒來的第一件事，最好就是讓自己慢慢清醒，先留點兒時間讓頭腦放空，再去應對世間其他事的連環轟炸。你要讓自己逐漸適應蘇醒后的世界。”身心健康指導莉莉·西爾弗頓說道，“以前從不會像現在這樣，很容易就分散注意力。”

Before alarms， it was roosters， church bells， knocker-uppers （people who were paid to wake you up by tapping on the door or window with a long stick， which happened up until the 1970s in industrial Britain） and even our very own bladders that got us out of bed. It is widely thought that the clockmaker Levi Hutchins from Concord， New Hampshire， invented one of the first alarm clocks in 1787. His design would only go off once at 4 a.m.， his preferred time to wake. Little appears to be known about the details of the actual design， but he wrote， “It was the idea of a clock that could sound an alarm that was difficult， not the execution of the idea. It was simplicity itself to arrange for the bell to sound at the predetermined hour.” Hutchins never patented or manufactured this clock.

鬧鐘發明出來之前，叫人們起床的有公雞打鳴、教堂鐘聲、敲窗人（受雇叫醒別人的人，他們會用一根長桿敲打門窗——這份工作出現在工業革命時期的英國，直到20世紀70年代才消失），還有就是被自己的尿憋醒。人們普遍認為，美國新罕布什爾州康科德市的鐘表師利瓦伊·哈欽斯是鬧鐘的發明者之一。他于1787年制作的鬧鐘每天只在清晨4點響一次——他自己喜歡在這個時候醒來。人們對此鬧鐘的具體設計細節似乎知之甚少，但哈欽斯曾寫道：“能響鈴的時鐘，難的是構思，而非制作。要在事先設定好的時間讓鈴響起來是很簡單的。”哈欽斯從未申請專利，也沒有批量生產過這種鬧鐘。

It was years later， in 1874， when the French inventor Antoine Redier became the first person to patent an adjustable mechanical alarm clock. And in 1876， a small mechanical wind-up clock was patented in the US by Seth E. Thomas3， which prompted major US clockmakers to start making small alarm clocks. German clockmakers reportedly soon followed and by the end of the 1800s， the electric alarm clock had been invented.

很久以后的1874年，法國發明家安托萬·勒迪耶成為可調式機械鬧鐘的首位專利獲得者。接著在1876年，美國鐘表師塞斯·E. 托馬斯為一款小型機械發條鬧鐘申請了專利，這促使美國主要鐘表生產商開始生產小型鬧鐘。據說，緊隨其后的是德國的鐘表師們。19世紀末，電子鬧鐘問世。

Shopping for clocks

選購鬧鐘

Today， alarm clocks come in any number of designs. From riffs on the Panasonic RC-6025 radio alarm clock， immortalized in the 1993 film Groundhog Day， to more retro designs from classic brands like Roberts. A quick search on Etsy reveals novelty designs in the shape of robots， owls or even rabbits. Elsewhere， more modern designs include the addition of colour night lights， projectors （to project the time on your ceiling or wall！ No， thank you）， USB ports speakers， temperature and humidity control， and even teen-proof bed-shakers.

現在的鬧鐘款式多得數不勝數，如1993年電影《土撥鼠之日》里天天響鈴的松下RC-6025收音機鬧鐘，還有“羅伯茨”等經典品牌推出的復古造型鬧鐘。在“愛特西”網上快速搜索一下，可以看到不少造型新穎的鬧鐘，有機器人、貓頭鷹形狀的，還有兔子形狀的。在其他地方還能找到設計更加時髦的鬧鐘，加上了很多新功能，像是彩色夜燈、投影儀（竟能把時間投到天花板或墻壁上！我不需要，謝謝）、USB接口揚聲器、溫度和濕度控制器，甚至還有專為防止青少年賴床的震床裝置。

The late Virgil Abloh’s Off-White label teamed up with Braun to release a pair of sleek limited-edition alarm clocks. In orange and blue， the design is based on the brand’s classic BC02 alarm clock which， strikingly simple， had been originally conceived by Dieter Rams and Dietrich Lubs in the 1980s. Fashion brand Paul Smith， too， released its version of the clock back in 2020.

已故時裝設計師維吉爾·阿布洛的街頭潮牌“奧菲白”曾與德國小家電品牌“博朗”聯名推出兩款限量版時尚鬧鐘。這兩款鬧鐘分別呈橘色和藍色，造型沿用了迪特爾·拉姆斯和迪特里希·盧布斯于20世紀80年代設計的“博朗”經典款BC02鬧鐘，外觀十分簡約。英國時尚品牌“保羅·史密斯”也在2020年推出了聯名款BC02鬧鐘。

All I was after， though， was a straightforward alarm clock， much like my original. And I got one from the local home goods store nearby for ￡8.50. The first night I used it， I felt oddly excited as I physically wound the setting as opposed to swiping on a screen. The next morning， in somewhat of an anti-climax4， I woke up before the alarm. But I’d already felt like I had conquered the day， instead of chasing it.

不過，我需要的就是一個簡簡單單的鬧鐘，和我原來那個差不多就行。我在附近的家居用品店花8.5英鎊買到一個。使用的第一晚，我異常激動，因為這回不是在手機屏幕上劃來劃去，而是實實在在手動上發條設置鬧鈴時間。沒想到次日清晨鬧鈴還沒響我就醒了，多少有點兒掃興。不過，我已然覺得自己對即將開始的一天有了主動權，不用一味拼命追趕。

According to Silverton， “Technology exploits our psychological weaknesses.” And being connected， she noted， is incredible but terrible at the same time. “It’s managing that and creating a routine that works for you.”

西爾弗頓表示：“科學技術利用了我們心理上的弱點。”她說，總與外界保持聯系，好處極大的同時壞處也不小。“我們要盡量權衡利弊，建立對自己有益的生活方式。”

Which now I think I have. The re-introduction of an alarm clock gives me the time， space and separation that my phone didn’t. Even though my phone still sits next to the bed， the difference is it’s no longer the first thing I’m reaching for. My first utterance of the day is no longer blaspheming about an email and feeling my blood boil， I find myself gently considering what I might have for breakfast， which has given me a sense of control and calm. Bizarrely， it has made me feel younger—I supposed because the experience feels nostalgic， or perhaps because I’m getting better sleep. And what can be more luxurious than that？

我覺得自己現在就是這樣。重新用上傳統鬧鐘給了我時間和空間，而且能讓我暫時與世隔離，這都是手機無法給予的。雖然手機還是放在床邊，但不同的是它不再是我清晨醒來伸手去拿的第一件東西。我每天的開篇不再是怒火中燒地對著一封電子郵件咒罵，而是慢慢考慮早餐要吃什么，這給了我一種可控感與平和感。奇怪的是，用回傳統鬧鐘讓我覺得自己變年輕了——也許是因為這種體驗讓人懷舊，或是因為我睡得比以前好了。還有什么比這更愜意的呢？

1 analogue（鐘、表）以指針而非數字報時的。

2 do away with結束；廢除。

3 賽斯·E. 托馬斯（1785—1859），美國鐘表師，鐘表大規模生產的先驅之一，于1853年創建了美國最知名的鐘表公司之一——賽斯·托馬斯鐘表公司。

4 anti-climax令人失望的事物；令人掃興的事物。