Would You Track Your Time of Death?
One of the inescapable truths about human life is that it’s fleeting. Like yogurt and takeaway dinners, we all come with an expiration date. Some, sadly earlier than others. The Tikker Watch is designed to help map out those moments, a death egg timer if you will.
Yes, the literal definition of graveyard tech.
Designed by Fredrik Colting, author of some soft-porn books, the premise of the Tikker watch is less about the morbid end-of-life neuroticism and more about trying to cherish the time you have left. YOLO with a clock face.
On their Kickstarter page, they say:
“While death is nonnegotiable, life isn’t. All we have to do is learn how to cherish the time and the life that we have been given, to honor it. And the best way to do this is to realize that seconds, days and years are passing never to come again. And to make the right choices.”
They have named the Tikker “The Happiness watch” and their focus on making every moment count is laudable.
“It’s important to remember that it’s not about how much time you HAVE, it’s what you DO with it. A week spent in love and happiness can be worth more than a year spent in agony. If you knew how much time you had left, wouldn’t you use that time wisely? If you know that time is ending, you make every second count,” they say on their website.
Tikker is not a plug-n-play model (or a strap-n-wear), as to get the best use out of the Tikker watch, you need to fill in a detailed questionnaire online. Here you answer details about your health, family illness, daily activity, etc., and this will then determine an approximate death date.
You strap on the watch, and then you get a countdown. Scary. It does also tell the time.
The watch will retails for approximately $59 and the goal is to have it available next year. Colting exceeded his Kickstarter goals, so production is a go.
It’s hard to know how helpful having a constant reminder f your inevitable demise will be, and whether this will positively change people’s lives. On one hand, it’s creepy, on the other, we all need reminders to make the most out of life and a Tik Tokking Tikker could work.
Until it’s out, you can amuse/creep yourself out with one of the numerous “death date” prediction websites. Results vary – I was quoted 50 years, 3 months and 20 days by Death-Clock.org and Saturday June 23rd, 2035 by DeathClock.cc
For now, the idea of making sure you pay more attention to the time you do have and value life is something we can all agree with.