Feature Archives

How Early Birds View Night Owls

"When I think about night owls, I think that they're party people - that they always want to be out and partying. I also wonder how they can manage on so few hours sleep because in most cases they are working and you'd be up until 2 or 3 in the morning and you still have to get up at a reasonable hour in the morning to get to work. I've never been able to figure out how they do that." (EB)Alice

"My roommates, when I was single, would think that it was weird that I went to bed at 5:00 (in the morning.)" (NO)Barb

There is also a belief that if someone has trouble getting up in the morning that something is wrong with them.

"My sister would always say "You're sleeping half your life away." They didn't think it was normal, since I was the only one in the family that would be up those late odd hours. My Mom joked around saying I had some sleeping sickness or something." (NO)Neil

"I can't relate to getting tired until 2 o'clock in the morning. If you're up at 7 in the morning and working all day, why aren't you tired at 11 o'clock (at night)? I can't understand it. They should be doing some exercise or doing some crosswords to get tired." (EB)Catherine

As night owls envy some of the aspects of being an early bird, so, too, early birds recognize that there is some advantage to being a night owl.

"I'm a bit jealous because I wish that I could stay up." (EB)Alice

Early birds also have some sympathy for night owls, but this is just in a general sense and certainly does not extend to the workplace.

"I would say that they have a problem getting to places first thing in the morning, because my husband is constantly late. They can't get up and get moving. " (EB)Anne

"Everything is closed when night owls would want to do something. They would have to get up when they're tired if they want to get anything done." (EB)Catherine