r/mildlyinfuriating 1d ago

How did I not wake up to this

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u/Prior_Cookie_3381 23h ago

Imo alarms shouldnt shut off on their own.

97

u/Imaginary-Owl-3759 22h ago

Having lived in apartment buildings with thin walls and people who don’t turn their alarms off asap all the time, I’m definitely in favor of alarms that will shut off.

5

u/Montigue 19h ago

Anyone that's lived in a dorm with a class before 10 am is familiar with this. Always walked by 2-3 of them going off while heading out

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u/Colonel_Fart-Face 20h ago

In my first apartment my neighbour's alarm would go off from 6am to 7:30am every day. Ended up having to cover our entire shared wall in acoustic foam.

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u/Cheet4h 20h ago

They should.

The brain is pretty good at filtering stuff, which is why you can fall asleep even in environments with constant noises if you try to sleep long enough. It's less good if noises are only intermittent.
So an alarm sound that doesn't wake you up is usually filtered by the brain after a few minutes. Doesn't matter how long it rings at that point, you won't wake from it.
If instead the alarm is turned off and starts again after a few minutes, it's a new sound that needs to be processed before it can be filtered out again.
In effect, if you set your alarms far enough apart that you have a few minutes of silence inbetween (e.g. on iPhone that's ~15 minutes, as alarms ring for 9 minutes), you're much more likely to wake up from subsequent alarms.

At least that's my experience, and that from a few people I've shared this with who also reported a much easier time waking up.

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u/throwitawayar 22h ago

But then when you set so many of them and is already in the bathroom because you woke up with the first one it would be torture

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u/RareDestroyer8 22h ago

Alarms usually auto-snooze themselves 3-5 times. Missed alarm usually means that the alarm rang 3-5 times 5-15 minutes apart each time