Poll: Daylight Savings Time

[braumeister]

We'll be changing the clocks this weekend (well, those few that don't change themselves). DST has been controversial ever since it was first proposed over a century ago, and the patchwork of systems used (or not) around the world is a confusing mess.

I recently read that the EU (currently on one time) is actually considering letting the individual member countries decide for themselves, since some like it and others don't. What chaos would that cause?

So I figured why not create a poll?

 

[Aerides]

Needs another option: I don't care but just pick one zone and enough with the back and forth twice year. Pick one and stick with it, is my preference.

 

[ChiliPepr]

Where is the answer "I like it and wish it was all year long!"

 

[sengsational]

Where's the answer "shoot the b*stards that came up with this crock of cr*p!"

 

[RockyMtn]

not used here in Az. Didn't really bother me when I lived in places that did have it though.

 

[tmm99]

not used here in Az. Didn't really bother me when I lived in places that did have it though.

I used to live in AZ for 7+ years. So much nicer not to have to deal with the time change.

 

[Music Lover]

Where is the answer "I like it and wish it was all year long!"

My thought too. For many having more light in the evening is more useful than having it in the morning. Of course, now that I'm retired it doesn't matter but for those who like to do things outside after work it makes more sense.

 

[ERD50]

We should get with modern times and drop all time zones. Put everyone on UTC (aka GMT ).

This is just an extension of time zones. Those were created to deal with the new technology of the time, the railroads. Before railroads, people did not travel fast enough, or be schedules enough to worry much about it. Each town used high noon as 12:00 noon. So each town was a few minutes off from its neighbor. That became a headache for a train schedule, so time zones were created to minimize the changes required.

Today, we have instant communication around the globe. It would simplify things if a meeting could be scheduled for 2 AM, and no one had to convert anything. I would get used to eating lunch at what we would call 5AM, it would be a short adjustment.


And I hate DST.

-ERD50

 

[MRG]

I hate changing back. I've been told I have seasonal affective disorder and the change bothers me some years. Maybe not this one.

For many years those letters scared the cr*p outa me. I no longer fear them.

 

[Sojourner]

Where is the answer "I like it and wish it was all year long!"

That would get my vote, too. I hate that it gets pitch dark at like 5:45pm in early December. And it's even worse in cities located close to the eastern edge of their time zones. In Nashville, it gets dark by 5:00pm in December!

 

[Spock]

I live in AZ, we don't need to save any daylight... we have plenty thank you.

It amazes me the quantity of people who don't have a clue about MST vs. MDT and will sent international meeting invites (China doesn't mess with savings time either) for the wrong time.

"When told the reason for daylight saving time the old Indian said…
‘Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket.’

 

[Cassius King]

My thought too. For many having more light in the evening is more useful than having it in the morning.

This.

 

[sengsational]

My thought too. For many having more light in the evening is more useful than having it in the morning. Of course, now that I'm retired it doesn't matter but for those who like to do things outside after work it makes more sense.

If 1 hour is good, 2 would be better? What about 3 or 4? Or 24? Oh, wait a minute, that's not doing anything.


Look, it's just a number. The point is, do we continue to jockey the number twice a year, or do we leave it alone.


For people that are a slave to the clock (I'm not), do you drive into the blinding morning sun twice a year or once a year? I'm sure lives would be saved by getting rid of the twice a year daylight savings time adjustment.

 

[Alan]

We'll be changing the clocks this weekend (well, those few that don't change themselves). DST has been controversial ever since it was first proposed over a century ago, and the patchwork of systems used (or not) around the world is a confusing mess.

I recently read that the EU (currently on one time) is actually considering letting the individual member countries decide for themselves, since some like it and others don't. What chaos would that cause?

So I figured why not create a poll?

Not all the EU are on the same time zone. UK, Ireland, Iceland, Portugal, Finland, Greece plus all the Baltic countries are not in the same time zone as France and the rest of the EU

https://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/eutimes.htm


I'm indifferent to having DST.

 

[braumeister]

Thanks, Alan. I misstated that.

What I meant to say was that AFAIK all of Europe does the DST time change on the same day.

 

[W2R]

We should get with modern times and drop all time zones. Put everyone on UTC (aka GMT ).

This is just an extension of time zones. Those were created to deal with the new technology of the time, the railroads. Before railroads, people did not travel fast enough, or be schedules enough to worry much about it. Each town used high noon as 12:00 noon. So each town was a few minutes off from its neighbor. That became a headache for a train schedule, so time zones were created to minimize the changes required.

Today, we have instant communication around the globe. It would simplify things if a meeting could be scheduled for 2 AM, and no one had to convert anything. I would get used to eating lunch at what we would call 5AM, it would be a short adjustment.


And I hate DST.

-ERD50

+1000 This is the most intelligent approach to the issues of time zones and daylight savings time that I have ever seen.

It would eliminate so many issues related to time zones.

 

[Philliefan33]

If I’m ever elected Queen of the world, we will all adjust our clocks one final time to split the difference. As in, instead of falling back one hour this weekend, we would turn the clocks back 30 minutes and be done with it. No more changing clocks twice a year.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I'm largely indifferent now that I'm RE and can go to bed and get up whenever I feel like it. I also shouldn't point out that there's only one "saving" in Daylight Saving Time.

 

[sengsational]

We should get with modern times and drop all time zones. Put everyone on UTC (aka GMT ).

We'd all get used to that sooner or later, but I wouldn't go that far. This thread is about whether screwing around with the clock twice a year is worth the trouble, not getting rid of time zones completely.

And I hate DST.

That, we agree on.



The original idea was that noon at any location was defined as when the sun was at it's zenith. For about 8 months, the time of the zenith doesn't move more than just a few minutes on either side from the average of those 8 months. This DST thing is just man's feeble attempt at controlling something that's not under his control.

If I’m ever elected Queen of the world, we will all adjust our clocks one final time to split the difference. As in, instead of falling back one hour this weekend, we would turn the clocks back 30 minutes and be done with it. No more changing clocks twice a year.

Programmers in need of work would thank you profusely. Businesses hiring those programmers would curse you profusely. Since your solution would make everybody mad, it must be a good one.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Forgot to add that if the world went to UTC I think most folks on the US east coast would object to their clocks reading 12:00 noon at sunrise.

 

[nativenewenglander]

I'm retired so it would not effect me, but I remember when I was in middle school they didn't change the time one year. We stood at the bus stop in near total darkness for a while that year.

 

[USGrant1962]

And it is Saving, no s.

 

[braumeister]

And it is Saving, no s.

Depends on who you ask.

As explained by Richard Meade in the English Journal of the (American) National Council of Teachers of English, the form daylight savings time (with an "s") was already in 1978 much more common than the older form daylight saving time in American English …
[… and on for two full paragraphs]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time

 

[scrabbler1]

Thanks to the changes in 1986 and 2007, we now have DST for nearly 8 months a year instead of 6 months prior to 1986. I always hated the fall switch back to standard time because it got dark so dang early, before 5 PM in December and January. I'd be quite happy if we just went to DST all year round.

 

[Independent]

I want this option:

I like it for the for 3-4 months when we get 13-14 hours of daylight.
7 1/2 months is ridiculous.