For quite a few years, I have been experiencing digital clock phenomena. It started occurring around 1995. I originally wrote this page in 1997. I updated it slightly in January, 2006 (mainly with the mention of the Internet search for 11:11).

I don't look at a clock that often, but several times a day, nearly every day, I notice that all the digits on the clock are the same (for example, 11:11). It is weird! There are only 7 times a day, during my waking hours, when all the digits are the same. The natural explanation is that I subconsciously look at a clock many more times than I am aware of and it only comes to my attention when the digits are the same. But after years of paying close attention to this phenomenon, I've come to the believe that isn't true. Each time I've noticed "all the same digits", I've asked myself why I looked at the clock. Was it just a casual glance or did I have a specific reason? In almost all cases, I had a specific reason to want to know what time it was, and there aren't that many times in a day when I need to know what time it is. No, this isn't scientific. To be more scientific about it one would have to count how many times per day I look at a digital clock, either consciously or unconsciously (and how do you measure that?), and how many times I got a "hit" (all digits the same). If this were measured over a long period of time, I think it would show a rate of hits that far exceeds chance.

After reading this, and having it brought to your attention, maybe you will start to notice this same phenomenon or other digital clock patterns. I only hope it doesn't drive you mad like it did me! For a while it was really creeping me out, but soon it just became a normal part of my life.

[Update: I've searched the Internet (just do a web search for 11:11) and found other people that also experience this or similar clock weirdness. They attribute it to spirits, new age revelations about the end of the universe, or whatever. I'm skeptical that others are experiencing anything other than normal probabilities, but why should I be skeptical of others when I am convinced my own experience is something other than chance? In any case, I think if I were being called upon by the forces of the universe to fight evil, or some other important cosmic mission, those forces would have a better way of recruiting me than this!]

Anyway, I got curious about how many times in a day various patterns appear on a clock. Here are a few digital patterns you may observe and the number of times they occur in a day. What's the likelihood that you will see one of these patterns when you look at a clock? What's the likelihood you will see them multiple times a day?


All Digits The Same

This pattern occurs 12 times per 24-hour day, at these times (both a.m. and p.m.):

      1:11, 2:22, 3:33, 4:44, 5:55, 11:11

Palindrome Time

In text, a palindrome is a word or phrase where the letters appear in the same sequence, both forward and backward. My name (Bob) is a palindrome! A famous palindrome phrase is "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!"

On a digital clock, a digital palindrome occurs when the digits read the same, forward and backward, such as 12:21.

A palindrome occurs 114 times per 24-hour day, at these times (a.m. and p.m.):

      12:21
      1:01, 1:11, 1:21, 1:31, 1:41, 1:51
      2:02, 2:12, 2:22, 2:32, 2:42, 2:52
      (... and so on for hours 3 thru 9 ...)
      10:01
      11:11


All Odd Digits

How many times per day are all the digits odd? For example: 1:31 or 3:15

There are 12 hours in a 24-hour day with only odd digits in the hour, and for each hour, there are 15 times where the minute digits are all odd.

So a digital clock shows all odd digits 180 times per day.


All Even Digits

How many times per day are all the digits even? 120 times. Why is it less than all odd?


Sequential Digits (Increasing)

This pattern occurs only 10 times per 24-hour day, at these times (both a.m. and p.m.):

      12:34, 1:23, 2:34, 3:45, 4:56


Sequential Digits (Decreasing)

This pattern also occurs only 10 times per 24-hour day, at these times (both a.m. and p.m.):

      2:10, 3:21, 4:32, 5:43, 6:54

Do you have strange experiences with a digital clock? Someone I know used to wake up in the middle of the night every night, and looking at her digital clock, noticed it was always :06 minutes after the hour, no matter which hour.