Why do I write this?

How about an inalienable right to sleep?

Everyone needs a good night's sleep. Shorting sleep is bad for you. Interrupted sleep is even worse. Sleep deprivation can literally drive you insane. This is all well-documented and scientifically proven.

The part they missed was where whenever you really need sleep the whole world conspires against you to see that you can't get it. Okay, that may be an exaggeration - but you know what I mean. It seems as though whenever you've had to get up early, have an arduous and tiring day, and then look forward to eight hours (or more) unconsciousness ... the phone rings ten minutes after you succumb to Morpheus. Or a siren screams by. Or a loud motorcycle. Something happens that wakes you for no good reason.

We have filled our lives with noise, and none of it helps. Does everything have to go 'beep' whenever it does something? Especially when that something is not actually important? Some of the notifications you can (and should) turn off. Some have no 'silencio' button. These are usually the least necessary noises of all.

Right now my car's dashboard is lit up like a Christmas tree as it bings and bongs at me because it thinks I need to "check tire pressure monitoring system" RIGHT NOW!!! - I can't, and I don't need to because I check the tires with a pressure gauge which is far more accurate than the car's valve stem monitors - and doesn't require batteries. I'd like to push the 'off' button but there isn't one. It takes a $400 repair bill to shut the damn thing up.

Yeah this stopped making sense because you know what; I haven't been getting much sleep lately. Not because of the car, though. It's just an example of the noisy technology intrusion on an otherwise serene life.

Dammit! I just heard something else go 'bing-bong'. I wonder what it was? I don't care, but I wonder. Maybe if I find it there will be a way to shut it off.