The Clocks of the Future －未来の時計－

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

The opening line of George Orwell’s novel, “1984”

 

I was thinking about daylight savings time recently.  When I call my parents in Scotland from Japan, sometimes there is a nine hour time difference, and sometimes there is an eight hour time difference between the two countries. 

That is because in Britain, the clocks are moved forward one hour in March, and are put back again in October.  To remember this order, people sometimes use the mnemonics, “Spring forward,” and “Fall back.”  In other words, the clocks go forward in spring, and the clocks go back in autumn (fall). 

The idea began during the First World War, and was initially introduced in Germany.  Due to the changing clocks, people who got up at the same time would have one hour less of daylight in the morning, and one hour more of daylight in the evening.  It was thought that this change, in an era where artificial lighting was less prevalent, would allow an increase in industrial productivity.  In other words, people would be able to work for longer. 

The main reason that daylight savings time has been kept long after the war finished is that the increased visibility in the evenings helps to reduce the number of road accidents.  Cyclists and pedestrians are more easily visible when drivers are coming home from work in the evenings. 

As technology continues to improve, how will clocks change in the future? 

If everyone uses digital watches and clocks, perhaps a government that wanted to increase industrial productivity could switch to Working Hours Savings Time.  In this new system, the day would still last for 24 hours.  But the length of an hour would change, depending on whether people were working or relaxing.  From 9am to 9pm, each hour would last eighty minutes instead of sixty.  And from 9pm to 9am, each hour would last only forty minutes.  Thus, workers would waste less time sleeping and spend more minutes (though the same number of hours) working.  That would bring new meaning to the proverb, “Time flies when you are having fun.”