The modern alarm clock, that is, one that is equipped with mechanical movement and adjustable time, was patented in 1847 by the French inventor Antoine Redier. And, in my opinion, that was the downfall of peak productivity across the globe. Now that is a large assertion, but one I can confidently stand behind and back up with hard evidence. 

Granted, alarm clocks are not all bad. In fact, they are necessary devices for waking us up and less complicated versions of them have been used for thousands of years. But it’s the snooze button in particular that houses our problem. In a day of technology, we can set alarms on our cellphones, which welcomes the snooze button even closer to our reach. Alarm clocks were introduced to snooze buttons in 1956 with General Electric-Telechron’s Snooz-Alarm that incorporated a 9-minute “snooze.”  

But you’re probably wondering, what exactly is so evil about the snooze button? First, snoozing your alarm lets your body drift back to the REM stage, which is the sleep stage when most dreaming occurs. Then, when your alarm sounds the next time, you’re in the middle of the REM

Stage, which leaves one feeling tired, groggy, and dismally unprepared for the day ahead. Your circadian rhythm is disrupted and the snooze button traps you in an endless cycle of grogginess. 

So next time you’re lying in bed, clouded by sleep deprivation and a short-sighted unwillingness to get up, know that your best decision, while difficult and painful in the moment, is to shut off the alarm, get out of bed, and start your day. Believe me, even though I’m recommending that you not take refuge in the snooze button, I often find myself hitting that snooze button, retreating back into REM sleep, and completely throwing my day out of whack. Many of us are so used to waking up and using snooze, so this change in waking up, while necessary, is most definitely going to be jarring and take some getting used to. 

And it’s this invention of the snooze button, which I’m sure some brilliant engineer or thinker thought up as some great system to help one wake up, that’s to thank for modern society’s inability to be productive.