I walk across the dreaming sands under the pale moon: through the dreams of countries and cities, past dreams of places long gone and times beyond recall.
Dream, in Sandman: “Brief Lives” by Neil Gaiman
Recently, I got the following tweet in my Twitter feed:
It’s one of those strange coincidences. A couple of days earlier, I had started to block out all light sources in my apartment. Yup, all of them. For example:
or
or
So, yeah, there isn’t a single light source left that is independent of the actually intended light sources: The bulbs that hang on the ceiling (and in other places).
And frankly, I’m astonished what a bit of duct tape (or duck-tape) can do. Sure, if the part heats up a lot, it’s a bad idea to put anything on it. But for me, I found that the light sources that bothered me were in places that do not heat up. And I think (but I am not a technician) that these areas were pretty safe (so follow on your own risk). And it gives me a night that is really dark, where there is nothing glowing, or worse, pulsating (talking to you, Apple!).
So you might want to try it out (on your own risk). You might have a better sleep in the dark.
And as for cellphones — I have my iPhone next to my bed. But always(!) display down. And I use the “Do not Disturb” mode. There is a pretty short group in contacts that is allowed calls (called “anytime”). These calls get through immediately. All others, sorry, not even if you call again within three minutes.
We live in a world where there is this drive to do everything immediately. Where people think they have to react immediately. But seriously, you do need your sleep, undisturbed sleep to be at your best. To have the mental resources to be creative. Or to be anything (positive) at all. Or to quote O. S. Card:
“Now go back to sleep, Wang-mu. And you, Master Han — your fatigue is showing very clearly. You’re useless to us if you lose your health. As Andrew has told me, over and over — we must do all we can do without destroying our ability to keep doing it.”
“Xenocide” by O. S. Card
In this sense, happy squashing annoying light sources. And have a good nights sleep. 🙂
