I don’t technically need an alarm clock - my work shift starts at 6:30 p.m., and I’m always up well before then. My phone does have a reminder chime that goes off at 5:30 so I don’t stay focused on what I’m doing to the point I’m late for work.
However, in the spirit of the thread: back in the 1970s I won a clock radio by calling a local pop radio station with the phrase that pays, a GE model with a large upright LED display with the radio as its base. I left it in my room when I left home in the 1980s and was shocked to see it in my brother’s bedroom all this time later. He says it still works good as new.
As an aside, our house was later banned from radio “x-number caller” contests - something about our old rotary phone made us deadly. I could miss being caller twelve, call back and be caller nine, call back again and be caller twelve. Once my siblings caught on, even the country music stations weren’t safe.
My wife still uses her old clock radio, it’s tuned to a local classical station whose programming is so tight that it’s always playing some relaxing Baroque ditty when it goes off in the morning.
Otherwise, I just use an old phone. Remembering to keep it charged can be an issue.
Husband has a clock and usually gets up before it goes off and shuts it off. Usually. He leaves his phone in the kitchen so we don’t get woken up by a billion trills and beeps since he gets messaged from not only his company people but also his counterparts in other parts of the world at all times of the day.
I have a radio/alarm clock so I can get the youngest up to brush his teeth, change his clothes… and put on deodorant (he’s 16). Then he sleeps for another 36 minutes until I tell him to get up and go wait for the bus. He seldom eats breakfast at home or at school. I used to cook breakfast for all 3 but since the last doesn’t eat…but when he gets home he snarfs.
I did this for his older brothers and I will do it for him until he hits college. Other than a few times of the year when I tell him (them) before bedtime that, no, I won’t be getting him up and to get himself up. Usually I am sick as a dog but there also the “It’s a party, anniversary or birthday” thing.
Myself? Was getting up by alarm in 2nd grade and getting my younger sister to her baby sitter and walking many, many blocks to school. The 70-80s wasn’t helicopter-y parenting time.
I spoil(ed) my boy(s) because I can. They liked and love it. Because I do know when to back off.
The oldest gets himself up and to work at 5 am and the middle gets himself to college when he needs to be there (vs just getting his online courses done on time).
I also used to throw their clothes in the dryer so they could put on hot undies and warm outer clothes during our frigid Iowa winters. Hubby was a bit jealous about that
Heck, nowadays, I look back and am jealous because there is nothing like slipping on hot from the dryer when it’s cold in the house undies.
I have an alarm clock next to my bed so I can see the time easily, but I don’t use the alarm function. The clock app on my phone is much easier to set and change.
I’ve never found a phone that’s loud enough. Though I do appreciate that my Amazon Fire does actually have an alarm mode that just keeps going. My phone always stopped after one minute.
Still, I stick with real alarms for waking, though I use other devices for my pill alarm.
Like many others, I have an alarm clock next to my bed, but use my phone to wake up. I used to use the alarm clock plus an extra-loud analog alarm on the other side of the room. Now I use my phone. Because my work times vary, I like that I can set repeating alarms for different days of the week. Plus, I can set multiple alarms and if I accidentally turn one off rather snoozing it, I have back-ups. Though I have somehow still managed to turn off all three alarms in my sleep and be late to work :rolleyes:
For a while, I actually strapped my phone to my forearm with a length of Velcro tape and set it to vibrate. I needed something that would wake me up even when I had earplugs in. One day, it occurred to me that somebody had probably created something for that purpose. I looked around and found a vibrating alarm that straps to my wrist. That’s what I currently use and it works great for me.
I use my iPhone because I need to set at least 3 alarms to even have a 50% chance of getting up on time. I’m not good at waking up. I used to use an alarm app that made me answer math questions before it would stop making noise, but I got too good at doing math in my sleep, and it stopped being helpful.
