Recently, the Norwegian island of Sommary announced that it was getting rid of time to become the world's first time-free zone. It sounded extremely pleasant—to leave the clock behind and do what you wanted whenever you wanted to. Unfortunately, the idea turned out to be a clever strategy to attract public attention by Norway's tourism agency rather than the real deal. But it raises a fundamental question—can we live totally without time?
"From a consciousness viewpoint we simply can't lose our awareness of time, as it's closely connected to our sense of self," explains German psychologist Marc Wittmann. "Many cells in our body possess their own autonomous clock. If those clocks get out of sync (不同步), however, it could cause problems." Canadian scientist Holly Andersen agrees, believing it's not possible to have conscious experience without the passage of time. Think about how your personal identity is built over time and filed away as memories. "These memories make up who you are over time," says Andersen.
While we can't give up the concept of the passage of time at such fundamental levels, day in day out forcing our bodies to stick to an abstract concept of time that ignores natural rhythms may lead to physical problems. A typical example is Daylight Saving Time (DST)—where we move clock time one hour forward relative to the cycle of daylight. There are a number of studies suggesting that switching to DST disturbs our internal body clocks, leading to less sleep, worse performance in tests and learning issues.
The clock, it seems, isn't always good for us. So, how can we live in a world ruled by clock time? "Giving yourself permission to do something without any time limit can help restore some of your body's normal rhythms. If possible, wake up naturally or go for a walk until you feel you're done. You don't have to have a life where you meditate (冥想) for ten hours a day," says Andersen. "But letting go of time restrictions on your actions for a twenty-minute period can be very healthy."
