Wakey wakey: a history of alarm clocks and the mechanics of time
It’s the time of year when we Australians start returning to our normal rhythms. The first beats of the day are often the dreaded beeps of the alarm clock or a digital symphony from a bedside phone. The job of waking us up when our body clocks are telling us to sleep is a big ask. When did we first start using alarms, and what did they sound like? What’s changed about the sounds of time, and what hasn’t? Birdsong Some of the earliest words we have for time measurement show people’s particular interest in dividing up the different parts of the night.