Wakey-wakey! Time to go to work!

The government is contemplating a scheme in which a firm will wake up teens and drive them to job interviews and work, to get them into the habit.

It’s an interesting plan, but I can’t help but remember an article I read about sleep patterns (which, alas, I can’t find now); teenager’s circadian rhythms actually shift so they go to bed later and wake up later – they are night owls by nature*.  So wouldn’t it make more sense to find jobs for them that start later in the day?  Then they wouldn’t need waking up.

I now have an image of a society where job timings are regulated by your age, and moving to a new timing is celebrated like a coming-of-age ritual.  It would have some interesting impacts, with less adult supervision at the ends of the days and more time spent only in the company of your own age group.

I don’t think it would work, in a practical sense, but it’s an interesting thought.

 

* They claim it shifts back again by the time you’re 30 or so.  Personally I think mine shifted back a little too far.