“Did you remember to turn the clocks back last night?”

That used to be a common question at this time of year when we wind our clocks back one hour to return to GMT (or UTC if you want to be more precise) after the end of British Summer Time in the early hours of the last Sunday in October (October 25 this year).

I remember the physical acts of winding back the half-dozen or so clocks in our house, a few key ones the night before and the rest early on the Sunday morning. And the slightly more modern times when your computer automatically updated the time but reminded you of that act the first time you booted it up on Sunday morning. Just in case.

In today’s digital, always-on, connected world (yet still with quite a bit of analogue including the common phrase “wind your clock back”) you don’t have to do much at all as your many connected devices – digital clock, TV, cable/Tivo service, DAB radio, computer, tablet, smartphone, smartwatch, climate station, car, perhaps even your central heating, microwave, oven or fridge – will automatically make the change as you sleep sweet dreams.

It’s a similar picture with our neighbours in continental Europe, who switched at the same time as us, and our American friends who have a few more weeks to go yet on their daylight savings time.

Some people think the whole idea of changing time twice a year is anachronistic in the modern world. That debate will continue endlessly, I’m sure. Think about it as you enjoy your extra hour in bed today as it’s also National Sleep-in Day in the UK.

Meanwhile, we have six months of time stability until we flip the process to wind our clocks forward by one hour for the start of summertime on March 27, 2016.

(Photo at top via Pinterest.)