Clock Time – Liv Vessenes

Today, Clock Time is something we take for granted. It is abstract and arbitrary, yet it governs our lives in profound ways. We wake up to an alarm, we schedule our day around the hours and minutes displayed on our devices, and we strive to be “on time” for work, all based on the ticking of an atomic clock, which is notable for splitting time into fixed intervals such as seconds and hours. Unlike natural time, which is derived from natural processes (like the movement of the planets and changing seasons) and is not influenced or controlled by humans, clock time is heavily regulated and places emphasis on the start and end of different moments. The implementation of clock time in the eighteenth century was associated with the European Industrial Revolution, as factories increased control over their workers.

It’s important to remember that clock time, despite its precision, is just one way of measuring time. It is a human construct, not a fundamental property of the universe. Clock time runs directly contrary to the natural sense of time within all living things, known as the circadian rhythm. The Circadian rhythm serves as a biological, self-regulating clock and plays a crucial role in energy, sleep, and diet. In humans, it affects social interactions, decision-making, and major bodily functions, such as memory and the release of hormones. However, humans today are indoctrinated into the use of clock time early on, which has caused clock time to be irreversibly ingrained into the way society functions and leads many to ignore natural time entirely.

For discussion of the industrialization of time, see EP Thompson’s “Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism”
For discussion of natural and felt time, in contrast to clock time, see Wittmann and Butler’s “Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time”