Wake up call: is technology unhealthy?

I had an excellent day today, but if you had told me that this morning I would not have believed it was possible. I set my alarm to go off at 7.45am on weekdays, aiming to get into college before 10am. As I lay in bed this morning I became aware of the fact that a)I had woken up naturally and b) there were people moving around the house. I’m normally one of the first up, so as my brain slowly registered this was not normal I decided to check my clock. 11.15am!

My frustration was immense. I had wanted to get four hours practice in before our afternoon orchestra rehearsal. I couldn’t get over the fact (as I kept telling my housemates over a rushed breakfast/brunch) that if I had planned to have the morning off I would have wanted to spend it doing something fun or interesting, not just sleeping!

However, as I calmed down on the bus to the city centre (12.16pm) I started to become aware of how good I felt. For once I was not yawning every two seconds, and my brain was raring to go. My hour of practice before orchestra was the most productive I’ve done all week, and orchestra itself was actually enjoyable. What’s more, at the end of rehearsal (5pm) when I’d usually only just have the energy to get the bus home I found myself setting up in a practice room for another two hours work.

I have not been sleeping well for the last couple of weeks, but I was not aware of quite how sleep deprived I was. It was actually a blessing that my phone alarm let me down (I’ve come to the conclusion I must have pressed something wrong when setting it). This has led me to think about modern lifestyles, and if relying on technology as much as we do is healthy. After all, what did people use before alarms or clocks were invented? They used the sun, and the cock crow, or just natural sleeping patterns. I totally rely on my alarm to unnaturally wake me each morning with the greek ringtone (it was the least harsh sounding one I had).

Going further, I recently read Dan Brown’s novel ‘Angels and Demons,’ in which he puts forward the idea of science and technology having an increasingly negative impact on the world. People used to rely on God, now they rely on science; the sun as a timing device and wake up call versus a piece of technology forcefully telling me what my schedule should be.

These thoughts are, of course, not going to stop me setting my alarm as usual tonight. However, I’m currently enjoying the fact that it’s 11.14pm and I still have the brain activity to be writing this. Yesterday evening I tried at 6pm to write one of my assessment essays and could not concentrate because I was so worn out. The essay is now complete, thanks to three glorious extra hours of snooze time.

NB. I don't have orchestra on a Sunday. I wrote this entry last thursday but have only just got around to uploading it (unreliable internet connection...and lack of time...)