The Norwegian island that's banishing the concept of time

Residents of a remote Norwegian island are campaigning to abolish the concept of time, saying they should be able to do “what we want, when we want”.

The citizens of Sommaroy say they do not experience time like the rest of the world does. The sun last rose on the island in West Tromso on 18 May and will not set again until 26 July – a full 68 days of daylight. During the depths of winter, the island is cloaked in total darkness for 48 days.

Kjell Ove Hveding, leader of the Time-Free Zone campaign, said: “There’s constantly daylight, and we act accordingly. In the middle of the night, which city folk might call ‘2am’, you can spot children playing soccer, people painting their houses or mowing their lawns, and teens going for a swim”.

“All over the world, people are characterised by stress and depression,” he told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

“In many cases this can be linked to the feeling of being trapped, and here the clock plays a role. We will be a time-free zone where everyone can live their lives to the fullest.

“Children and young people still have to go to school, but there is room for flexibility. One does not need to be put into a box in the form of school or working hours.

“Our goal is to provide full flexibility, 24/7. If you want to cut the lawn at 4am, then you do it.”

Last week Hveding and a group of islanders brought the petition to the island’s town hall, where the local council and a Norwegian minister will now discuss the process of Sommaroy becoming officially “time free” over the summer months.

It is hoped that, once time is abolished, there will be no set opening or closing times for shops or schools and that locals will be able to work flexible hours. Fishing and tourism are the two main industries on Sommaroy, which has a population of around 300 people.

So what is there to do on Sommaroy? The first thing visitors arriving on the island will encounter is a bridge covered in watches – a reminder that once you enter Sommaroy, you leave time behind.

Most tourists come to 'Summer Island' to enjoy its Caribbean-esque white sand beaches. There is also the male-only Kaillkraa, a cafe-cum-boys’ club where each resident has a hook for his coffee cup. In the winter months, Sommaroy is a prime spot to witness the aurora borealis.

While Sommaroy’s mission to become “time free” could be interpreted as something of a publicity stunt, there is one community that really does live without the concept of time.

In 2011 a team of researchers from the University of Portsmouth found that the Amondawa people, who live deep in the Amazonian rainforests of Brazil, have no watches or calendars. They live their lives to the patterns of day and night and split the year into the rainy and dry seasons.

They do not keep track of their age, but rather mark the transition from childhood to adulthood to old age by changing their names.

The team of researchers said that it is the first time they have been able to prove time is not a deeply entrenched universal human concept, as previously thought.

Professor Chris Sinha said: "We can now say without doubt that there is at least one language and culture which does not have a concept of time as something that can be measured, counted or talked about in the abstract.

"This doesn't mean that the Amondawa are 'people outside time', but they live in a world governed by events rather than the passing of time."

Professor Sinha said: "We have so many metaphors for time and its passing – we think of time as a 'thing' – we say 'the weekend is nearly gone', 'she's coming up to her exams', 'I haven't got the time', and so on, and we think such statements are objective, but they aren't.

"We've created these metaphors and they have become the way we think. The Amondawa don't talk like this and don't think like this, unless they learn another language.

"For these fortunate people time isn't money, they aren't racing against the clock to complete anything, and nobody is discussing next week or next year; they don't even have words for 'week', 'month' or 'year'.

"You could say they enjoy a certain freedom."

Will the people of Sommaroy be able to emulate the temporal freedom felt by the Amaondawa? Time will tell.