A few days ago, I was trying to have some deep sleep on a weekend. As usual, I took out the clean bedsheet and a white pillow to prepare for a good night's sleep.
For most of the time I prepared my bed, other friends were busy setting their alarm clocks. I physically can’t survive a day without a good night's sleep, so making my bed early was a good choice. However, while I was having a deep sleep, I was wakened up by the distracting sound of an alarm clock— a very loud, intense noise. It was so loud and screechy that I almost thought it was a fire alarm, and my friend, the alarm setter, seemed more focused on just sleeping rather than turning off her alarm clock.
People are sometimes being disrespectful with their alarm clocks, and this behavior isn’t something new if you have to sleep with someone else. However, the conversation that I initiated about this problem—” I will never understand why people set their alarm clock if they aren’t going to wake up”— struck a nerve. Suddenly, I saw many people also making comments about this situation.
The conversation that I started drew lots of other friends to talk about their situation regarding the alarm clock. Friends shared their stories about roommates who threw their alarm clocks in the morning, waking everyone else up. Others shared tails of roommates who always turn off their alarm clocks late. One even shared a story about a person who irresponsibly set his alarm clock outside of the room, waking up every people living in the dormitory.
Although the examples given span months and years, it feels more like not turning off one’s alarm clock is normal behavior than rude behavior. Some people even disregard dormitory leaders’ suggestion of not setting the alarm. While many people are sleep deprived and want to have a good night sleep, it’s marred by the irresponsible actions of other people.
The rudeness and irresponsibility of one’s alarm a head-scratcher. Having a deep sleep is important. With homework, projects, and other assignments to do, it’s important to have a good sleep. Plus, those people who set alarms also need sleep, meaning that they will have a hard time waking up in the morning. Why someone would sleep through an alarm instead of just not setting the alarm in the first place is a mystery.
Having a bad sleep is disrespectful to teachers, whose lectures are neglected by students who sleep during the class. Most students who didn’t get a good sleep because of the alarm sound often doze off during the class, resulting in disrespectful neglection of the teacher’s lecture. Another friend reminded me of an incident that happened a month ago; one student dozed off during math class after getting a night of bad sleep due to the sound of an alarm. His roommate slept through an alarm while the loud sound went on for more than 5 minutes, and the sound was very distracting.
That the “alarm setters” responded with irritation when mentioned out is also unsurprising. During another conversation, multiple friends talked about how they suggested not setting the alarm, yet was completely neglected. Other than that, it’s almost like gaslighting, to get mad at someone for supposedly infringing on your behavior when you are the one having a jerk. Having the freedom to set an alarm doesn’t mean you have the freedom to destroy others’ freedom to have a good sleep.
Yesterday, I made a promise to my roommates. We made sure to not set an alarm if we aren’t going to wake up. But one of my roommates tried to set an alarm, saying that she’ll wake up immediately if she hears the sound. We couldn’t believe her, but we allowed her to do whatever she wants. It was an appropriate thing to do since we couldn't just directly rescript her personal right. Therefore, we had only one alarm waiting to ring that night.
The night was quiet, and we actually had a wonderful sleep because she immediately turned off her alarm. Like this, when people become responsible for their alarm, other people can have a comfortable sleep.
Writer: Chris Lee
