You Need More Clocks in Your Home and Here’s Why

Clocks are an underestimated addition to your decor and can give you some badly needed breaks from your phone (especially in the bedroom). There is something grounding about a clock. Like a security blanket, it felt good knowing someone — or something — is keeping track of time for us. 

On average, we check our phones 344 times per day, or once every four minutes. Adding clocks back into my home has cut back on the amount of time I check my phone throughout the day. Before, when I’d just want to know the time, I’d instead see a text or notification and fall down the rabbit hole before looking up an hour later. I’d like to think this little trick has helped with that temptation. 

Clocks come with so much personality: Someone with a grandfather clock is going to be a very different person than someone with a cuckoo — and according to Pinterest, analog clocks are back! Keep reading to learn where you should add clocks into your home, and the best clocks to suit the room. 

Yes, this may bring back memories of smashing that snooze button for five more minutes of sleep before getting ready for school. Hear us out! Alarm clocks are cooler than ever with the ability to wake you in a variety of ways. Such as sunrise clocks which gently wake you using the power of the sun — well, not the real sun. But it does imitate it by giving off a lighting that slowly brightens closer and closer to your desired wake-up time. The Philips SmartSleep Connected also comes with a sunset feature — in addition to sunrise — to help you get to sleep. 

If bright and early don’t sound like a good combination to you, consider the classic alarm clock, which has only gotten better with time. The Loftie alarm clock is both aesthetically pleasing and the perfect baby step for those who don’t want a complete throwback. By controlling it through an app, you can schedule alarms for various days of the week, mentally transition from a long day with its noise machine settings, or simply use it as a speaker for your own wake-up call. 

Even if you are a stellar hostess, at some point you want your guests to leave. Keeping a clock at eye level for game night is an easy way to visually prompt the overstayers. Also, if you’re like me and live with ADHD, there’s nothing worse than getting sucked into binge-watching a TV show that makes you late again. The more visible the clock is, the easier it will be to keep yourself in check — especially if you’re someone who likes to catch the morning news before heading out to work (if you commute, that is). 

We recommend IKEA’s DÅNDIMPEN, a digital clock with a minimalist quality that blends into most design styles. While it may look small, it’s mighty, with bluetooth-connected speakers for when game night turns into a dance party.

Timing is everything when it comes to cooking and baking, so you may want to keep a separate timer to track your recipes. However, this means you can use your kitchen to have a little more fun with your clocks with the good old-fashioned cuckoo. The cuckoo was invented in Germany in the 1600s and has been around ever since because of its unique design. 

To add something a little different to your space, we turn to MoMA Design Store’s modern take on the classic, the Dachs Cuckoo Clock, but don’t worry about it waking you up at strange hours. It features a light sensor, so it knows when it’s nighttime. Another funky design that plays homage to a longstanding clock design is the Kit-Cat Clock. Created during the Great Depression, its wagging tail (acting as the pendulum) became a fixture in the American kitchen during the 1950s. 

While 64 percent of Americans use their phone on the toilet, keeping a clock in the bathroom is a huge headache saver when you’re getting ready for a night out. The amount of times my phone has slipped into the sink or gotten wet from the shower because I was trying to check the time is embarrassing. Plus it eases your mind knowing exactly how much time you have left to get ready before an angry roommate or family member starts banging on the door for you to hurry up. 

For bathroom clocks, you want to consider that your valuable outlets should be saved for hairdryers and the like — so try to stay away from digital. Consider a traditional analog wall clock that faces the shower. Society6’s colorful wall clocks are perfect for this, making it easy to check the time with a quick glance from the shower. 

Telling the time isn’t the only function that your phone has taken over, it also gives you easy access to the weather. When you’re on your way out the door, it’s great to know if you need to grab a jacket or if you should expect rain later, which is why most atomic clocks come equipped with a weather station. Atomic clocks are known to be incredibly accurate, and when combined with an indoor and outdoor thermometer, you have a full reading of your current environment. 

The La Crosse Technology Wireless Atomic Digital Forecast Station is a mouthful to say, but it has the gadgets to back it up with weather icons, outdoor humidity range, and a self-setting time and date with automatic daylight savings adjustments. You can set it up on your entryway table with its kickstand, but we like that you have the option to easily mount it to your wall. It’s also weather resistant, if you’d rather use it outside for your patio or deck. 

From antique analogues to digital clocks that double as a radio, whatever one you land on, remember the purpose is to give yourself a break from your phone and enjoy time passing without the interruption of notification dings or news alerts.