Living on military time.

Using military time for no reason is eating shit.

I've known several people throughout my life who, curiously, have their phones or watches set to the "24-hour clock," or military time, all the time.

These were people living and working in the United States, who by their own admission had no international business going on. They weren't traveling out of the country. They weren't keeping up with international friends. Presumably, their calendar appointments and other day-to-day commitments were planned with respect to the 12-hour clock. And yet. . . they just lived by military time, every day of their lives.

You may see them, too. Looking around you. They're everywhere. Bagging our groceries, delivering our morning milk, actively serving in branches of the military.

WHY?

Not only do I not understand what is gained by looking at the time this way, how does one benefit by not having instantaneous feedback to the clock the rest of society uses?

I actually asked ChatGPT to weigh in. But none of its suggestions seemed to apply, at least in the cases I'm thinking about:

First, it posited that the choice was about clarity and precision — that not needing to discern between A.M. and P.M. saves ambiguity. But in day to day life, when does one check the time and not immediately know whether it's day or night? And if one is prone to confusing the two, how would the added step of needing to convert the 24-hour time reading to the 12-hour clock NOT be any less confusing? So, no.

Then, it offered the international communication angle, but as I said, there was no international communication going on, per my friends' own admissions. Next.

Its next possibility was, simply, "consistency and efficiency." I'm not sure how this warranted its own separate suggestion, but ChatGPT thought that perhaps it was easier to not have to constantly convert between military time and conventional time. Okay, but...? If anything, using military time demands MORE conversion, as those of us who don't use it are NEVER converting between the two. None of the people I've known who do use it worked in any fields that necessitated it.

Lastly, ChatGPT concluded that it may just be a matter of personal preference. Well, I'll buy that. BUT WHY?

I have my own theory: for Americans, there may have been a time when having your phone constantly set to military time seemed cool, because it implied you were jet-setting so often that you just never got around to resetting it back. Sure. But this would've been more plausible during college, right around the time everybody "went to Europe once" and came back calling it "Ethpaña" and smoking a pack a day. Not as much with the individuals I'm thinking about.

The people I knew who had their phones set to military time were distinctly not showing off. They were not flashy; they weren't trying to impress anyone, even less so with this strange method. They just. . . inexplicably wanted their phones to display wonky timekeeping. Just because.

WHY DIDN'T I JUST ASK THEM ABOUT IT MYSELF? Well, do you know how awkward that would've been? To admit that I was even LOOKING that closely at their phones in the first place (why? Why was I looking?) and then to imply that I'm finding fault with it? No. Actually, one friend did offer her own explanation, once: she "just liked it."

There you have it, folks. She just liked it. Even advanced artificial intelligence can't come up with a better reason. ✍︎