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Comment by caio1982 | Hacker News Reader

caio1982

Any app that guarantees I will not snooze nor ignore it (as in my brain simply gets used to the alarm and I won't even have a chance waking up with it if I want to)? It might cost $5.000 USD, I'll buy it.

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How about one of these, requires you to solve a puzzle to turn off.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mathe-alarm-clock/id82353291...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wroclawstu...

Otherwise I also remember some friends back in the days having an alarm clock that shoots away a thing in the other corner of the room, requires you to fetch it to disable the alarm.

this app has quite a few dismissal methods designed to do similar things to all these examples, like having to scan a QR code (which is optimally taped to your bathroom mirror to force you to get out of bed), having to solve a brain teaser based around the Stroop Test, and having to shake your phone several times to shut the alarm off

I tried that one for iOS and it requires you to enable the alarm every night manually (which often I just forgot to) and I COULD solve some of them without even remembering I did later :-(

My current setup is an alarm clock with an actual bell that is noisy as fsck. Yes, an old school alarm clock :-(

Balance the alarm clock on the edge of a tin pot, so that when it goes off, it will just fall inside and make a bunch more noise.

How about an app that shuts down your computers and TV's at 10 PM sharp? The snoozing and inability to wake up probably has to do more with the amount of sleep you get than any failings of an alarm.

I agree that screens likely play a big role in messing up a lot of bedtime routines. I have a few ideas for updates in the near future to combat this issue, but I don't think I know how to shut off computers and TVs from an app yet and after a quick stack overflow search it doesn't look like anyone there does either

You would need a daemon running on said systems, and communicate via network (local / wifi, for better privacy?)

The daemon would just listen to the network and shutdown the system when requested to.

Or you could have a smart plug for TV (ZigBee, ZWave and similar).

My router has an option to turn itself off after a specific time for "power saving". Since so much happens by an internet connection nowadays it basically has the same effect.

I definitely can't guarantee you won't snooze cause the app is only a tool to help, but with some effort on a users part and settings like qr dismissal along with an annoying, loud ringtone like "digital style", this app can help fight the urge by annoying you out of bed and rewarding you for dismissing the alarm correctly.

I know it might sound stupid but something that actually works is drink a lot of water few minutes before going to bed. When I do that the alarm clock always work. Make the app remind people of drinking water when it's about bed time :-)

is this so that you have to go to the bathroom in the morning so badly that you wake up naturally?

I don't feel this urge at all, I just wake up smoothly and then after 5min or so "oh I could go to the toilet, okay". I guess it's been a known trick for centuries, at least I've read somewhere it was a pretty popular strategy among indigenous folks. But hey who am I to say, I cannot even wake up with an alarm clock!

What an innovative technique hahaha!

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