A small Norwegian island is the world's first time-free zone: 'Live their lives to the fullest'

Norway is known as the land of the midnight sun for a special reason. In most parts of the country, the sun doesn't set and their nights are short compared to the daytime. While the rest of the world continues to run by observing their clocks, Norwegian people have learned to live a little differently than others. In a small island of the country called Sommaroy, the 350 residents who call it home are not bound by minutes and hours ticking by. According to The Guardian, the island has declared itself a time-free zone, becoming the first region in the world to do so.

“All over the world, people are characterized by stress and depression,” Kjell Ove Hveding, the leader of the campaign on the island that lies in the Arctic circle, told the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. “In many cases, this can be linked to the feeling of being trapped by the clock. We will be a time-free zone where everyone can live their lives to the fullest. Our goal is to provide full flexibility, 24/7. If you want to cut the lawn at 4 am, then you can do it.” The primary source of income for the islanders is fishing and revenue is obtained from tourism.

Hveding further explained to the outlet that in Sommaroy, people are allowed to "do what they want and when they want." However, children are still required to attend their classes at school. The Sommaroy island is completely shrouded in darkness between November to January and the sun rises once again on May 18 and doesn't set until July 26. “It’s constant daylight,” Hveding said in a video that he shared on the campaign's Facebook page. “If you want to paint your house at 2 am, it’s OK. If we want to take a swim at 4 am, we will.” Hveding also proceeds to break a wall clock in the video, embracing a a life where clocks are not required.

NRK got statements from tourism officials who think that this whole campaign is merely a strategy to attract more tourists to Sommaroy. “It’s a fascinating concept,” Truls Egil Wyller, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, shared with the outlet. He believes it to be an intriguing idea because society has long been a slave to the clock that controls almost every aspect of their lives. “Before that, you worked mostly as long as it was necessary, you ate food when you were hungry and you lay down when you were tired. In modern society, everything we do is controlled by the pace of the clock, from the moment we get up," he added.

“I’m not going to say it’s impossible to pull a whole island out of the global clock,” he told the outlet, further explaining how the residents of Sommaroy would not find life to run any smoother without access to their clocks. “But it does sound very difficult.” Some representatives of the campaign attended a meeting with the local MP Kent Gudmundsen and urged the parliament to debate the petition to make the island time-free. According to The Guardian, Gudmundsen reportedly told the iTromsø newspaper that the idea does sound exciting and that it could be considered as a third option alongside summer and winter time.

Even though most of the residents on the island have embraced the idea of living in a time-free society, some are doubtful about the outcomes of not having to follow the time. “I can foresee challenges with some guests when it comes to checking in and checking out, and the bar and restaurant opening hours,” admitted Malin Nordheim, a receptionist at the Sommaroy Arctic hotel. “I’m a little skeptical.”