People Did Very Weird Things Before Modern Inventions Came Along

People Didn’t Care About What Time It Was Until Trains Came Along

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Photo Credit: Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images

Before trains, people didn’t worry about what time it was. Each town had their own ways to keep track of it. Two cities next to each other could be 30 minutes off from each other, and no one would flinch. Then those pesky trains started connecting cities.

Essentially, trains normalized timekeeping in the modern world. If you needed to be somewhere and had to take the train, it was important your clock matched up with the train’s clock. The Great Western Railway Company in England was the first to standardize time for travel, so you can blame them for feeling guilty when you’re late to work in the morning.