The AM/PM Problem

photo credit: klwatts

Of all of the inventions man has released upon himself, I do not believe any is more despised than the alarm clock. Sure, nuclear warheads may take more of the heat in philosophical circles, but no one throws their shoes at a ballistic missile every morning (we might think twice if we did).

The simple truth is that this in an invention we created with the express intent of annoying ourselves. It is a trade off of, it waking us up from our beautiful sleep and, in return, we don’t get fired. Pretty simple.

Yet, clockmakers seem to be determined to increase the hatred hurled at their creations not just by making the alarms more annoying and harder to ignore, but by blessing them with a design flaw that practically guarantees they fail at least some of the time.

What is the flaw? The AM/PM issue. The one where you set the alarm for 6:30 AM only to be roused out of bed just in time for dinner at 6:30 PM. Why does it happen? Because clockmakers let it happen.

Why The AM/PM Issue

The simple truth is that our system for telling time is not that efficient. We have two 12-hour cycles every day, giving us two one o’clocks, two five o’clocks, etc. Worse still, our entire system is based on multiples of 12, rather than 10, making it harder to count and do math for. It’s no wonder children have to be taught time in school, it’s just one step below long division in the complexity scale.

So, when clockmakers try to simplify this complicated system into four digits that shine bright through the night, they have a bit of a problem. Though we might be able to tell if it is morning or afternoon when we look around us, the problem is looking into the future, which is what we do when we set the alarm.

The clock has to clearly tell us if it AM or PM that we’re setting the alarm for. However, this isn’t an inherently complicated problem. The clock just has to convey one item of information, an item for which there is only two choices. Right off the top of my head, there are three easily solutions:

1. Use “Military Time”: The first solution is don’t have AM or PM at all and avoid it altogether. Use a 24-hour clock and you never have this issue. The problem here is the user. Many freak out when their clock hit 13:00 and no one seems to be able to subtract by 12 quickly. It is a great solution destroyed by the inability of many to understand and use a better system, or just a broad hatred for all things math.
2. Add an “A” or a “P”: Add a fifth digit to the clock that clearly displays a letter “A” or “P”. If those letters are too close (when converted to LCD), “A” and “E”, the latter being for “Evening”. It seems unlikely a fifth digit would add much to the cost of the clock but it would greatly aid its usability.
3. Some Other Clear Visual Cue: With dual-color LCDs, you can have the numbers turn green in the afternoon or change the backlighting of the clock to indicate the different cycles. This would be simple and obvious enough for most of us to use.

However, our friends in the alarm clock industry haven’t done any of these things. They’ve instead solved the problem, on most clocks, in true Inelegant Solutions fashion, with a dot. A single, shining LED dot.

How can this possibly go wrong?

The Problems with the Dot

The dot was obviously a cost-cutting move. Rather than spending time and money to create a good UI for AM/PM, we solve the problem with a single dot. Almost no money spent and no time to create. Best of all, they just print on the rim of the clock what the dot means, making it so that they set the rules for their UI.

This, however, has always been bound to fail. Consider the following issues:

1. Which Dot?: On most alarm clocks there are several other dots than the AM/PM one. Depending on the clock, there’s one for alarm on or off, one for the time zone, one for the snooze feature, one for the radio, one for the alarm type and the list goes on. It is almost impossible to tell at a glance which dot is the AM/PM one.
2. You Can’t Read in the Dark: The information the dot provides is useless without the information on the frame. Unfortunately, most of us set our alarms at night, meaning we have to either remember what it means or grab a flashlight.
3. No Standard: On some clocks the AM/PM light means AM, on others it means PM. You might understand your alarm clock, but you are screwed the next time you visit a hotel room. In those cases, just request a wake up call.

The end result is that, even on a clock you’re familiar with, you are bound to screw this up at least some of the time. Nearly everyone has done it at least once and most of us at least once within the past year.

Worse still, the problem is amplified a thousand times over when you use a new clock, such as the aforementioned hotel room clock. Not only do you have to relearn the entire clock, but you have to figure out how that particular clock handles the AM/PM issue.

If getting up to you is important, you need to schedule a few minutes just to understand the clock.

The Best Solution

The best solution to any problem is always the one that avoids the problem altogether. As such, a 24-hour clock is much more efficient. There is a reason the military uses it, they have a supreme need to express time accurately and quickly, something the 24-hour system provides.

Think about it for a moment, if we could all just wrap our heads around the concept, we would never have to clarify “morning or night” or “evening or afternoon” again. You would say 1500 and everyone would know that is three in the afternoon. Easy.

Still, if we are going to stick to this less useful 12-hour system, we need to make it clear whether we are talking about AM or PM and that is a challenge for the UI designers. It’s just too bad they seem to have taken a pass on this one, walking away with a half-baked solution that is prone to error.

Bottom Line

This problem is a classic case of human laziness and human cheapness colliding to make a solution that is both more costly and more time-consuming. How is it, in our quest for efficiency and cost-cutting, do we find a solution that is both more expensive and more difficult than any other?

I may not understand everything about clock making, but I know that there is at least one morning per year where I oversleep my alarm because it was set incorrectly, either by me or my wife. We’re not idiots, but this is simply a mistake that is too easy to make.

Even if you only make it one out of every 100 times you set your clock, that is still one time to many. A good UI should be instinct and I shouldn’t have to think in order to set my alarm.

Yet, I do and, quite frankly, I’m not happy about it. Still, maybe I’ll order this clock of Amazon. It seems to get it somewhat right.