What time is it when all reference to it is removed?
@lookatdesktop (27156)
Dallas, Texas
October 4, 2017 4:12pm CST
An experiment in time by my own self imagined by my own mind, Starting off with an imaginary family of 4, two parents and a son and a daughter ages 11 and 21 respectively, try to go a week without a calendar, a cell phone, a computer and not have any way of finding out what time it is because the television set and most electrical and mobile appliances would be either removed or unplugged.
The reason for this imaginary experiment, I call A Week out of time, we try to imagine how the people in this house would be able to do things and write down the time they thought it might be, over about a 7 day period.
Of course, the obvious thing would be they could not call someone to get the right time, nor pick up a newspaper or ask a person passing by what time it is. The purpose of this experiment is to see what people would in fact do, if there was a major power grid failure and all communications on cell phones would be lost and there would be no communications due to an event such as a solar maximum flare that took out the power grid from powerful electro-magnetic force.
The probable outcome of such an experiment would be, that by the end of the 7 day week, some of the household would be pretty close to the actual time based on the simple fact that the sun rises and sets at certain times and that for the most part, people get sleepy at a certain hour and tend to have regular periods of wakefulness and sleep stages.
But, I speculate that there would be times when people would be unsure exactly what day it was or what time it was in every given instance, in particular, at night, after dark with no sunlight to judge the approximate time of day and time may seem to go faster or slower relative to each individual based on their own inner clock.
We all have an inner clock that if maintained during normal circumstances, by not experiencing abnormal activities or stressful circumstances, that enable us to wake up every day at about the same time and judge the approximate time of the day based on certain activities that may be performed on a routine basis.
Take a look at this article about a person who went a week without time:
I guess my idea is not that original.
4 people like this
4 responses
@Jackalyn (7558)
• Oxford, England
4 Oct 17
I think there is a TV programme where they did this over the decades. Every so often I go out without my phone on purpose and spend the time wondering what time it is. I think eventually you would adapt and go by the meals and the light in the day and darkness of night.
2 people like this
@Ithink (10106)
• United States
4 Oct 17
I think that time telling, not in the day but just by time might be doable by some. Day by day, after awhile I would think everyone would be off at some point. Well unless you made sure to keep track via paper and pen or something. Hmm if you did that thou, that might be better kept then the hour. Hmmm .. lol
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27156)
• Dallas, Texas
5 Oct 17
Well, I read somewhere about blind people having a kind of condition that makes it hard to determine night from day called non-24 in people who are completely blind. It is a very serious subject and it disturbs me because the idea of going blind from some accident is very awful to think of. I know a young woman who is basically blind in one eye and it saddens me deeply. I have known only a few who are living in the dark and I think a major blackout would be like going temporarily blind, especially if one were with a group of people trapped in a building for days on end with no escaping and having to rely on feeling around to survive, This is one type of scenario that would happen if there were a serious power grid failure.
BiblesnBarbells Store: http://astore.amazon.com/biblesn0d-20 A cyber-attack takes down the grid and leaves millions of ordinary people without electricity. F...
1 person likes this
@Ithink (10106)
• United States
5 Oct 17
@lookatdesktop I have seen that one already, Im big into this stuff, the what ifs always interest me. In my case Id hope to have my BOB and then I would have light. lol However if not yep would be in total dark. I have always been scared of going blind.
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27156)
• Dallas, Texas
5 Oct 17
@Ithink , when I was just a boy, I played a game called the blind boys, with my younger brother, and we would simply close our eyes and wander around the back yard until such time as we had to guess where we were before opening our eyes. I discovered a different type of world when I went around the yard with my two eyes shut. But one day my mother discovered I played this game and told me "Suppose you were to shut your eyes and never get to open them again? God gave you sight for a reason so don't go pretending you are blind any more because it is not a good thing to be that way and so it is not fun to pretend such a thing." I stopped playing that game. What my mother told me long ago made me think about those who in fact had no sight. As it is, I have astigmatism and that's pretty bad enough. I could never become a marksman.
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27156)
• Dallas, Texas
7 Oct 17
Yes this is basically true. I have a best friend forever who flew with his wife to New Zealand and talk about being disoriented about the time of day and having a bad case of jet lag. 
@acelawrites (19272)
• Philippines
5 Oct 17
That's a very nice experiment. One can rely on his body clock, or if there is sun in that area, he can look at its position and approximate the time; at night, it can be the moon's position.
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27156)
• Dallas, Texas
5 Oct 17
You are very clever and probably would make it through a blackout without any problems.
