Phones are noisy, and phones are distracting: how often do you need to quickly check the weather and instead you read your notifications? Keeping it in airplane mode at night is a big life improvement.
I have no desire for an echo, and I don't own visible clocks that aren't connected to devices (computer, tablet, phone, etc). Well, save one: An old alarm clock that runs backwards most of the time and has for years. My life only revolves around time when it improves my life - getting to places before they close, meeting with others, work.
I never really need to quickly check weather because it has little impact on my day. I only really need it to dress warm/cold enough when I'm out of the house. This time of year, there is snow, so I can just assume it is below freezing and not raining, and only need more than that if I plan on being outside more than my normal commutes.
I rarely check the time if I wake at night. I do tend to check when I wake up, but I rarely check notifications when I do. Little is so important that I can't check when I get around to it. If I need immediate action, someone will call. Most things aren't giving me notifications anyway because I make it so.
And besides, I can just turn it on silent if I don't want to hear the few notices I get.
Agreed. Phones are noise and distracting. But those are not intrinsic qualities of phones. We have made phones that way, and we can made them any other way we want.
Other people talk about airplane mode. I kind of like it but I'd rather not be disturbed by default, so that wouldn't be necessary.