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by weisser 4548 days ago
I think the best alarms are ones that require you to get out of bed to turn off (meaning an iPhone placed across the room) - essentially it's not a kind of alarm but the positioning of it in your room. Once you are out of bed I don't think the UI of how you silence the alarm really matters.

Some of you have probably heard of Tocky and Clocky (http://www.nandahome.com/products/index.php). I've never used either but my guess is the concept is better than the execution. I've never felt a need to do anything but put my phone on the opposite side of my bedroom. Also, by doing this I have no way of checking my phone while in bed - either in the morning after waking up or at night before falling asleep.

2 comments

Somehow in college I was able to get up, walk through my apartment, turn off my alarm, walk all the way back, and crawl back into bed, all without waking up. (Or, at least, without remembering later.)

The solution, for me, has been getting into a routine where I can consistently fall asleep earlier. Much easier to do now that I'm not pulling late nights all the time.

Likewise. My alarm was a playlist that would play through my speakers under the room's deck. My computer was in top, with the audio and power cables zip secured to prevent easy power loss.

Dang thing would go off, start getting louder (scripted for "gentle" wake-up), and I had to crawl out and onto the deck, log into my computer, and shut it off. ... And it was set to lock itself and start again in 10 minutes.

TL;DR: sleep inertia sucks.

Yeah indeed... maybe you should go to bed earlier :D
I have been using https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sygel.goob... for about a year now and it has drastically increased my ability to get out of bed on time.

It works via wifi signal strength; I have to walk right up to my router in another room in order to shut it off (or you can reverse the trigger if you sleep near your router).

Across the room was never enough for me but walking to another room of the house wakes me up every time.