The History of Snooze Clocks, & Why They Are Evil

I ask you: what’s the point of setting an alarm at a specific time, if you make it too easy for yourself to turn the alarm off, before doing what you need to do at your appointed time?

Most of the really interesting new alarm clocks being produced offer novel ways of making it harder for you to turn off your alarm, not easier!

Still, the Snooze Button is a feature found on many (lesser) alarm clocks …though, by design, not on ours.

For this reason we thought it’d be interesting to do a little research into Snooze Clock History to find out how the vile plague to mankind known as the Snooze Button came into being.

The Root of all Evil: One of The World’s First Snooze Clocks

Snooze Clock Timeline:

1. Lew Wallace, author of Ben-Hur, invents the Snooze Alarm (agent of Satan?)
2. 1956 – General Electric-Telechron first marks a Clock with a Snooze Alarm Function
3. 1959 – Westclox introduces the Drowse Electric Alarm Clock, the World’s first Snooze Clock with the rocking 5/10 minute Snooze option
4. 1963 – Westclox has several different models of Drowse (snooze) Clocks, each with separate dual Snooze Buttons to Snooze for either 5 or 10 minutes
5. 1969 – Westcox releases the “Minikin Drowse”, a simplified Snooze Clock with just a single Snooze Button allowing 7 minutes of extra sleep
6. 2000 – Westclox finally changes the names of several of its Snooze Clocks from ‘Drowse’ to ‘Snooze’

[Source , Source]

…and the world has never been the same, unfortunately.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Me Generation? New Coke? The end of the 1960s? The Financial Crisis…and the Bird Flu? Yes – these and many, many more bad things are of course directly attributable to the advent of  Snooze Clocks.

The Snooze Button makes our lives too easy. It pampers us. It tames us. It tells us it’s OK to ignore everything, roll back over on the comfy side of the bed, and leave the problems of the world unattended to.

Seriously – when was the last time you made the world a better place by hitting a Snooze Button?

Not only that – some sleep specialists even believe hitting the Snooze Button could deprive you of much-needed REM Sleep:

“The idea of the snooze button itself disrupting sleep itself is possible,” posits Dr Christopher Li, a sleep medicine specialist.

[Source]

I rest my case.

If you happen to be afflicted by the Snooze Button Disease, however – do not dismay.

It is never too late to repent.

Save your soul now by joining our Anti-Snooze Crusade.

And switch to a reputable, god-fearing, non-snoozing alarm clock.

Go on now…make us proud of ya.

Tags: Alarm Clock History, alarms, clock history, clocks, onlineclock.net, snooze, snooze alarm clock, snooze alarm clocks, snooze button, snooze button history, snooze buttons, snooze clock history, snooze clocks

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