4 ms·

I've had trouble getting up and staying awake forever. I was terrible in my teens, my parents would actually throw water on me some mornings. Now I use an alarm

I've had trouble getting up and staying awake forever. I was terrible in my teens, my parents would actually throw water on me some mornings. Now I use an alarm app (Sleep As Android, I'm sure there are others) that can choose different puzzles and difficulties. To turn off the alarm, I'd have to solve 3 problems like "2x5+14-6" without getting any wrong. I eventually got really good at doing math in my sleep apparently, because I overslept a few days after about a year of using it. Later finding that my alarm was in the solved state. Now I use the mode that makes you physically shake the phone a certain number of times (and a certain amount of force) to turn off the alarm. I have it set so it takes about 20 seconds of vigorous shaking, and by the end of it I'm fairly awake. I did the ringtone thing for a bit and it just made me really hate my ringtone. I would never hear my alarm and go "maybe someone is calling", but I would always hear my ringtone and go "Wtf, why is my alarm app...? oh..."

raamdev 10y ago
I think working for a few years in IT roles where I was on call 24/7 in case a server went down, where I worried that any call I got might be a disaster call, trained my brain to always consider the sound of my phone ringing as a possible emergency. I've been using the iPhone "Old Phone" ringtone for years now and when my alarm goes off I usually catch it by the first or second ring (confirmed by people who have actually called and woken me up). One other thing I've learned is that if I use an ascending alarm, where the ringtone starts quiet and slowly gets louder, it takes a lot longer for me wake up, presumably because my subconscious learns that an ascending ring is most likely not a phone call... my wife and daughter are awoken long before me if I use an ascending alarm, but if I just use a normal one I'm able to wake up and turn it off before it wakes them.
digi_owl 10y ago
Heh, had a similar experience with an alarm clock with a button i needed to twist to lock in place.

raamdev 10y ago

I think working for a few years in IT roles where I was on call 24/7 in case a server went down, where I worried that any call I got might be a disaster call, trained my brain to always consider the sound of my phone ringing as a possible emergency. I've been using the iPhone "Old Phone" ringtone for years now and when my alarm goes off I usually catch it by the first or second ring (confirmed by people who have actually called and woken me up). One other thing I've learned is that if I use an ascending alarm, where the ringtone starts quiet and slowly gets louder, it takes a lot longer for me wake up, presumably because my subconscious learns that an ascending ring is most likely not a phone call... my wife and daughter are awoken long before me if I use an ascending alarm, but if I just use a normal one I'm able to wake up and turn it off before it wakes them.

digi_owl 10y ago

Heh, had a similar experience with an alarm clock with a button i needed to twist to lock in place.