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I really dislike changing clocks twice a year. It seems arbitrary, useless and disruptive. Should we keep doing this?

Edit: When I say i dislike changing clocks, I mean I dislike changing my routine to fit the changing of the time.

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itsmedammit 8 Aug 28
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19 comments

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0

It doesn't bother me particularly changing from GMT to BST and back but have always thought just add 1/2 hour to GMT and leave it there 🙂

Great idea!

1

I don't like my sleep messed with! Both times it takes me a couple of weeks to adjust! I really hate it!!

I am with you on that.

2

Remember hearing that it was to help the farmers out. What, farmers aren't smart enough to adjust their clocks or alarms to suit their needs? Time to scrap that nonsense.

The cows also get very uncomfortable when milking is an hour late for no apparent reason.

1

Most clocks now days change by themselves, and for the rest it only takes a minute or two to change. The hour more or less of sleep doesn't bother me, I'm the biggest hazard to my sleep schedule.

Tejas Level 8 Aug 28, 2018
0

I missed a flight b/c of this. Was on leave from Marine Corps (Camp Pendleton, CA back to Memphis Tn), and had a layover in Phoenix. Knew the time went from Pacific to Mountain, but stepped up to the gate and found out the plane had left an hour early b/c "We don't observe daylight saving time here." Ever since then....staunch opponent of the system!

Ouch!

0

I must be the only Arizonian that voted so far.

gearl Level 8 Aug 28, 2018

You folks in AZ are lucky, or just have good common sense.

@itsmedammit Maybe a few of us. 🙂

0

I think daylight savings is an outdated concept and no longer needed, it's also a pain in the neck.

I agree, on both counts.

0

Theres more suicides around one of the changs am not sure which one it is ... Personally i hate the changes

More accidents too.

0

I was told that daylight svings was first suggested by Benjamin Franklin, as a way to make the most of daylight hours and save candles.

Originally, daylight savings was enacted as a way to save energy. It was an old idea put into effect during an energy crises. Since them work hours have expanded, and some work places go 24 hours, 7 days a week now. Which means eliminating daylight savings would nto affect energy use as much as it once would have.

However, as we convert to more renewable sources of energy, in particular solar, saylight savings may still be useful in saving energy. I'd rather spend five minutes resetting clocks twice a year, than having to reset clocks randomly severl times a yer due to black outs or brown outs.

I actually look forwrd to capturing and using as much daylight as possible in my waking hours. Daylight savings helps me do that.

It's not changing the clocks so much as changing my sleep twice a year. I could wake up whenever I want but I still have to be at work or school based on their time, which coincides with the time changes.

I heard it was for harvest to give the farmers more light for longer to harvest the crops.

@LadyAlyxandrea I heard that too, and then it seemed liked the reasons to keep it morphed. In any case, I still don't like it. I think farmers live on whatever time they need to get things done.

@itsmedammit around here they do now. Dst doesn't even help them here in kansas lol. It at the wrong time of year.

0

Honestly, the daylight savings time thing never really bothered me, but a lot of people get cranked up about it. However it works out, we all know what time it is really, right?

We do, it's just that we have to change the time that we actually have to be somewhere (work, school, etc.) twice a year. What is the point?

@itsmedammit ah, ok. You need to retire, things are less temporal. ?

0

Don't change your clocks if it bothers you but always be mindful of the actual change that is in place.

I actually don't change my clocks half the time, but that's not the point. One still has to go to school or work or whatever, based on the time change.

1

The bereau of confusion and redundancy would have to lay off valued employees. The ones than bump the clocks ahead to break time and knock them back just before the end of their breaks.

0

Antiquated concept.

[webexhibits.org]

(the link is safe)

Thanks!

0

The FL legislature voted to stay on DST year round, but we are now waiting for Congress to approve it. (I have no idea why Congy needs to be involved, but...)

I hope it passes.

0

Living in a region that is above the latitude of Main, daylight (or the lack thereof) is highly important in the winter. Optimizing that daylight is important to us. Conversely, in summer, having a little more darkness is also desirable. It is a way of balancing out the excesses we experience here.

Where I live, things are going on 24 hours a day.

@itsmedammit
I like the screen name!

@Holysocks Thank you!

@itsmedammit But people are not.

1

Always thought DST was nutso, even as a child. Even though personally I have never found a one hour change twice a year to have any significant impact on my sleep or circadian rhythm (at most a day to adjust). Also the energy-saving and safety arguments in favor of DST have been shown to be either specious or cancelled by other tradoffs.

There's also a movement afoot to switch the New England states from Eastern to Atlantic time that I think includes ditching DST, but don't recall the arguments for that or the exact states involved. But last I read it was getting some serious consideration, just not enough maybe for it to come together.

I think it never gets enough momentum because it is lower priority.

@itsmedammit For those who are interested, here's a couple of links on the Atlantic Standard Time situation:

[boston.com]
[latimes.com]

@mordant Thanks!

0

I consider time zones rather archaic in the first place.

Compared to what? Every town setting its clock by high noon so that everywhere you go is a few minutes off from everywhere else?

@mordant GMT everywhere. Now. Works for the military. Oh, and none of that 12 hour crap. 24 hour clocks.

@Hicks66 I could live with that.

@Hicks66 I am given to understand that the military (along with most of the rest of the civilian world outside the US) uses a 24 hour clock but only uses Zulu / GMT / UCT for global coordinated operational purposes like ship and plane navigation. For civilian purposes, everyone wants to know things tied to the circadian rhythm, like how long until sunset. Noon should still be roughly high noon and midnight should still be 12 hours after that, not some random time. Time zones themselves universalized that by wider region, and would be a lot more reasonable without DST.

I will admit that as humanity eventually moves into space, Zulu / GMT / UCT will become more important but likely local time on any planetary body is going to be tied to human biorhythms and/or the local "day" as well.

@mordant the number you ascribe to your circadian rhythm is arbitrary at best. Noon is a relative term. 1200 EST is 1700 GMT. So if you get up at 0600 EST, you're getting up at 1100 GMT. No big deal.

@Hicks66 As a software developer I have no problem with understanding and using the concept but I think most people's heads will explode and hence there will be no will to impose Zulu on anyone.

One wonders though if such a thing wouldn't have some positive impacts (and encounter the corresponding resistance) in making people more global in perspective. It might fix us American's general "fuck you" attitude to the rest of the world -- our provincial self-absorption might start to erode as a result.

0

We need to adopt UTC as standard (and metric system)

Yes on metric! I do not understand why we insist on torturing ourselves with 9/16ths wrenches!

2

I live in northern Illinois and would be happy to switch to Eastern and stop changing the clocks. (The net effect would be that the current time setting would be unchanged.) Or just switch back to Central and just ditch Daylight Savings. Either way. I'd just like to stop messing with my circadian rhythm twice a year.

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