Being a scientist, I quite often find myself experimentally measuring life's processes in terms of and/or to the second. It is absolutely necessary to do so, if I want an accurate assessment of results on which to further build. This precision in my work, however, does not carry over into my life, or more importantly, into my sense of time in terms of schedule.
I am fascinated by the Global North's obsession with exact time. Growing up in Mexico this was never even a concept, and I have experienced the same lack of fixation in many other cultures, including Native American, so I'm fairly certain it's not literally geographic. Cultures living rooted more closely to the diurnal cycle and the seasons (whether by necessity or tradition), even those that DO have industry, seem like they continually adapt to the incremental changes the planet actually undergoes, and have an overall more fluid sense of time.
Every day, the sun rises and sets at a slightly different time than the day before, earlier or later for each, depending on the season, and that same sense of time as malleable pervades in myself and apparently these various peoples, rather than the arbitrary and unrealistic "static" time established for efficiency's sake. I think it's to do with an industrialized/mechanistic society that inflicts its linear "Greenwich Meantime" structure on the world rather than being part of the world, and a part of real earth-time.
Obviously it's not that time doesn't exist or isn't marked, it's just not to the minute like it is here in the US. Although I have seen "natural time" at work in more rural/agricultural regions, but office jobs, school, social calenders etc. are still fettered by the clock. Growing up, if we were told to be somewhere at 8, we'd get there somewhere around 8, sure, but nobody was going to have an anxiety attack if it was 7:50 or 8:15. Honestly, sometimes the agreement was "morning", "afternoon", or "evening", which led to hours of difference in timing from one day to the next.
Most American/western-sensibility people I've talked to about it seem to think this type of system automatically means chaos, but it does not. It means adjusting your expectations, but other than that, people still go to work, kids still go to school, bills get paid, chores get done, socializing if anything is more common. The "my god, everything will fall apart!" defense is manifestly untrue. Life just has softer edges.
The GMT + zones idea obviously has its advantages in a society focused on WORK first, especially work-as-measured-by-hours (in education they call it BIST = "butt in seat time"), but just based on energy drink, mattress & sedative ads I can see how much stress it causes when (shocker!) people are not cogs. I'm not wired that way, due to my formative years, so I've worked very hard to find a career environment conducive to my very internal sense of time.
I teach college biology, which is not hourly/punch a time-clock, but rather very independent and self-directed. I'm in charge of how my classes meet and what we do, and this creates a different sense of when my workday begins, and ends. I may be teaching at 1pm, but I probably have a few things I want to do beforehand, so I will get to campus with enough time to do them...but sometimes I don't have anything that needs doing, so I don't.
It's all flowing throughout the day: I'm plugged into the rhythm of the schedule in such a way that I'm hardly ever checking the time. Example: let's say my class begins at 1pm, I'll usually be there 10-15 minutes before if I anticipate lots of set-up or student need, but sometimes not. I may not begin exactly at 1pm, depending on what's happening, and they won't get their break at exactly 1:50pm, but rather somewhere near the halfway point that is a good pausing place. Just because the lecture ends at 2:50pm, doesn't mean I lecture right up until that minute, though I do not go over time; as I know sometimes students have very little time in between classes. After class I may have students waiting, or other things to do, or I may be done and go home, it all depends.
It's not at all regimented, I guess is what I'm trying to convey, and though obviously my being "late" in the students' perception would not be okay, that's an almost abstract delineation, since their concept of start=lecture time is not the same as mine, I "began" my work day much earlier. This extends to the students as well, if they come after I've started they may have missed stuff that I will not repeat, and they have to come through the rear door so as not to interrupt, but I will not inflict arbitrary sanctions on them, I think it's ridiculous.
Again, this is "time as schedule" I'm talking about, I do use precise time, and accurate devices taking measurements of it, to govern things like test periods, but I'm infamous for giving my students more time than all of the other instructors. If I'm giving an exam, I generally give them the entire period, and create an exam that will take 3/4 of the period or less for the majority of good students. I don't like to lecture right before/right after an exam, as I've found comprehension and retention is almost zero. I've come to see that most students need transitions, and natural time between these different sorts of brain activity, and I see no problem in granting it.
Faculty & committee meetings are the same, bracketed by chit-chat, refreshments, adjustments, and also, due to the myriad of faculty schedules, someone coming in "tardy" is not a pariah, they aren't even noticed. 1-on-1 meetings are about the same, there's a window of time, ~10 minutes on either side of the agreed hour, where it won't even be noted. There's just a different professional paradigm, without a "boss" tapping their foot and looking at the little hand on their watch. Nobody is boss, we're colleagues.
Even my commute is like that, because the route I take is slightly longer distance but highly consistent in duration, and since I'm usually on my own, organic schedule of "I need to do this in my office and that at the copy center and there's that meeting around 2pm" or whatever, so I have a general sense of when I ought to head out.
My personal life is the same, I agree to be wherever around whatever time is needed, but make it clear I will likely not be there on the dot. If it's a movie or something my "around" time is obviously early (e.g. ~9p for a 930p show) but for something fun like lunch/coffee/dinner/party/museum/beach/band/club, it's a stretch of time with generally 15 minutes flexibility on either side of the target. Chores & errands are similar, I generally have a list of things to do and do them on the days when I have some time, but not the same day/time every week. I pick up my best friend's daughter from after-school 1-2 times a week, and it's anywhere from 3pm to 6pm, depending on what I have got going on that day, it works great.
The reason I think all this matters is that conforming to clock time slavishly leads to tremendous stress and ill health. Vacations, the genuinely good ones, feel great because they encourage natural time; wake when feel like it, and sleep, eat, be active, explore, hang out, be alone, when your body/inclination tells you to. I know we can't be so free when not on vacation, but I do think we can be a lot more free, a lot more relaxed, and far less crushed under the weight of the arbitrary ticking of the clock.
This philosophy keeps my stress level very low w/r/t "time", as I'm never late, I'm never early, I just am :)
