So a couple years ago Swatch came up with the idea of 'Internet Time' where everyone in the world is in the same time zone, measured by metric 'beats' (a thousand a day). It didn't take off in a lot of places though, notably, the CNN and Apple home pages used to post the current internet time, but neither do anymore.

Meanwhile, AOL UK is trying what's been labeled by many within the company as a PR stunt, asking their employees not to bring watches to work, and cover all clocks, on phones, walls, and computer screens, to determine whether it creates a more relaxed work environment.

It turns out that the employees are more stressed than usual, concerned about being late for phone calls, appointments, and meetings with people in organizations that aren't time-hobbled.

Me, I'd take it in the spirit it was intended, go in to work when it feels like I should be there, and leave when it felt like I shouldn't be there. The whole program was apparently created by the marketing department at AOL UK, so I wouldn't feel any compulsion that I 'should feel' any certain way about the program. After all, a feeling of temporal indebtedness (this term could mean several differnt things and I should explain what I mean, but I'm both lazy and late, and the ambiguity seems to fit the story) would make any honest analysis of the stressing or destressing completely meaningless.

I wonder if AOL management would feel more or less stressed if their employees were happier, but only worked 5 hour days (or nights)?

Anyhow, I'm still in Los Angeles, where watches are second only to cars, and computers are much farther down the list, after cellphones but before palm pilots. But I'll be back tomorrow...