Tools for mindful timekeeping : 4 devices to change our relationship to time

Abstract

This thesis presents an investigation into the development of a series of devices that alter our relationship to time. The intention behind each of these devices is to help people become more aware of the temporality that is at the core of our being. Time pressure comes from the networks of timekeeping that surround us. It's not just our clocks and watches. Time is synchronized across devices, cities, and continents. Networked time regulates our lives today more than ever before. Modern timekeeping has shaped our culture into one that squeezes productivity out of even the most inconceivably small time increments. Time was once kept at a distance. Church towers and grandfather clocks marked time in space. As technology advanced, timekeeping has shifted inwards and closer to our bodies. Time is embedded in watches, phones, and every digital electronic device that surrounds us. Today, fewer people wear watches and keep time for themselves. We've outsourced our sense of time to systems that we don't understand. Our phones and computers display time accurately without intervention or maintenance, making watches seem redundant. Those who are less aware of time are surrendering to an unfamiliar force. They invite environmental pressures to pull their sense of time away from an innate internal awareness towards a grossly distorted sense that views time as a commodity. Modern timekeeping might help with efficiency, but we are busier today than ever before. While we've shaped our temporal perception through the increasing precision of standardized time, human psychology remains connected to time, but not congruent to the physics of it. If we can become more aware of our relationships to time, we can manage our expectations and counteract temporal illusions, misperceptions, and distortions. The devices presented here call for a more mindful approach to timekeeping. Rather than pushing time into the periphery, I hope to empower people to make time their own. We can challenge the temporal pressures of our environment, culture, technology, and state of mind through an alternative relationship to time.