Sometimes it’s not so easy to loose track of time.  True, the sun (if there is one) can usually shed some light on the matter.   But let’s not forget your alarm clock, your oven, your microwave, your watch, your mobile phone, your laptop, your kindle, your ipad, and of course your mom.  Let’s also not neglect the public clocks for commuters and urban dwellers (who get the added benefit of knowing the current temperature of the city being dwelled in).

With the invention of time, which is really only a desire we have had in the last 5 to 6 thousand years – we’ve also accrued the wonderful concept of lateness.   Indeed we can’t get enough of time, and thus lateness, as evidenced by the continuous demand of wrist watches.  Our love affair with timekeeping (OK, and with luxury) is tantamount to an obsession: in less than picturesque economic times, the last 3 months has seen exports of Swiss watches grow by 40% to France and 30% to the United States.

And let’s not forget urgency.   The misuse and abuse of this term is widespread:  attending your wedding probably is, responding to that tweet probably is not.   The emphasis one places on time is a personal one, and ironically – a game of balance. In a hyper-connected and digitally networked world it seems likely that in just the coming 5 to 6 years, we will see an exaggerated and glorified sense of measuring what we do, and indeed when we do it.  Until then, time will only tell (according to my Nike+ FuelBand).