Beyond 24 Hours!

When was the last time you were conscious of the 24 hours day’s cycle?

         Lately, I’ve been wondering — have we, as a society, quietly outgrown the 24-hour day?

         We often speak of how social media, mobile phones, OTT platforms, and the hyper-connected world have changed our routines. But have they done more than that? Have they, perhaps, distorted the very rhythm of life — the start, the end, the transitions in between?

In a newspaper article, I read that nearly 600 million years ago, Earth’s rotation allowed only 21 hours in a day. The implication was scientific,

primarily caused by tidal forces from the moon  — days have literally gotten longer over millennia. But something clicked deeper within me. Have we, through our habits and distractions, psychologically extended our days beyond the natural 24? This phenomenon is perhaps because of the tidal force of the screen or the after effects of the screen time. Mobile phones not only engage you till the time you are on or into it, but even later in your subconscious mind. It has literally reshaped every aspect of a social being. “Wo/man is a “social animal” but where? Merely in the social space.

Most of us no longer rise with the sun or sleep with the moon. The body may need rest, but the mind is wired — Netflix autoplaying, messages buzzing, reels looping endlessly. People sleep at 2 or 3 am and wake up at noon. Even when we sleep, are we truly off?

So is this merely a disrupted sleep cycle, or a deeper existential shift? Have we collectively lost the sense of a “day”? Its sanctity. Its rhythm. Are we inching into a formless cycle — not 24 hours, not circadian, but algorithmic and addictive?

Have we surrendered our natural time to manufactured time?

Maybe we need to reclaim the day — not by controlling every hour but by becoming aware that time isn’t just a number on the clock. It’s a pattern of being. 

And perhaps, we’re not just tired nor even geared up — we’re displaced in our own sense of time!

By the way, when was the last time you realised that you BREATHE?