By A. Mayura Athukorala, JadeTimes News
How Do We Experience and Understand Time?
Time is a concept that has fascinated humans for centuries. We often think of time as a flowing river, constantly moving forward and never stopping. It can be seen as a ticking clock, marking each passing second with precision. Some people describe time as a valuable resource, like a currency that we can spend wisely or waste carelessly. Others view it as a sequence of moments, like snapshots in a photo album, each capturing a specific event in our lives. Early Christian thinker Saint Augustine famously noted that while we experience time continuously and intimately, trying to define it is incredibly challenging. Our experience of time is deeply personal and subjective. For instance, a moment of joy can feel fleeting, while a period of waiting can seem endless. Scientists have discovered that certain areas of our brain act like internal clocks, helping us keep track of time. Yet, despite these insights, how we perceive time remains unique to each individual, shaped by personal experiences, cultural practices, and our everyday lives.
Why Was Modern Time Created?
In the late 1800s, the world changed how it kept track of time. Before then, each city had its own local time, making it hard to schedule things like trains and meetings. At the International Meridian Conference in 1884, a decision was made to set Greenwich, England, as the starting point for a global timekeeping system. This system divided the world into 24 time zones, helping people coordinate activities across different regions. For example, it made it easier to have a phone call between someone in New York and someone in Tokyo. Although this was a big step forward for global communication and travel, not everyone was happy with the change, as it shifted the concept of time from local to global, disrupting traditional ways of life in many places.
How Does Modern Time Affect Our Lives and Identities?
The adoption of modern time, largely influenced by Western technology, has significantly impacted societies and individual identities. In countries like India and China, having a single time zone across vast areas has created challenges. For instance, in India, the time difference across the country affects school schedules and economic activities. School children in the western part of the country, where the sun sets later, often have to wake up earlier in the dark, impacting their sleep and school performance. In China, using one time zone for the whole country has been used as a tool for political control, especially in regions like Xinjiang. There, some people set their clocks differently from the official time as a form of quiet protest against government policies. This shows how timekeeping can influence not just daily life, but also cultural identity and political resistance. While modern time helps connect the world and makes it easier to travel and communicate, it also highlights the cultural and political impacts of timekeeping on diverse societies.
