Daylight Savings Time vs Standard Time

[Mike $]

It may surprise some people that the recent time change didn't bring us into Daylight Savings Time, but did, in fact, bring us back to Standard Time. There are people trying to get rid of Standard Time in the US altogether, but some like it the way it is. Now that we all know we're currently in Standard Time, what time system do you prefer, if any?

 

[dancephoto]

Before people describe any preferences, I think it is instructive to look at a map that shows how wide the time zones are. For example, the eastern time zone extends from the eastern tip of Maine almost to Chicago. As a result, where the Sun is in the sky (marking the various hours in the day including sunrise and sunset) is not the same for a person in Maine and a person in Indiana even though both their clocks say the same time. When the sun is coming up in Maine it is still dark in Indiana.

Wherever we live, if we want to have some daylight available to us after our work/school day, we need to start our work/school day early enough to accomplish that. If we want some daylight available to us before the start of our work/school day, we need to start our work/school day late enough to accomplish that. We can try to trick ourselves by fiddling around with the clock, but it boils down to is this: we simply need to get up earlier or later depending on what we are trying to accomplish. The term Daylight Savings Time is misleading. The amount of daylight there is on a particular day remains the same regardless of where we set the hands of our clocks.

 

[rainbow21]

My preference would be for year round DST, so that it is lighter here in the evening... since I am a late riser.

(Not sure which choice in poll that is...)

And it is too confusing to have to keep track of whether Hawaii is two or three hours behind.

 

[Neil_O]

Fireworks at 9:40 pm is just too late. Q: if we had Standard all year round would July 4th fireworks be able to start an hour earlier?

 

[man0a]

Different people have different needs. In the SUV and iPhone era, I think it is dangerous to have kids walking to school before sunrise.

 

[Mike $]

My preference would be for year round DST, so that it is lighter here in the evening... since I am a late riser.

(Not sure which choice in poll that is...)

And it is too confusing to have to keep track of whether Hawaii is two or three hours behind.

Since you want to keep DST year round, then your choice would be...? No, you don't like the seasonal time changes. Same for people who want Standard Time year round. The poll asks simply: do you like the seasonal changes? The thread asks which system you prefer. Feel free to weigh in on the benefits of each.

 

[Mike $]

Fireworks at 9:40 pm is just too late. Q: if we had Standard all year round would July 4th fireworks be able to start an hour earlier?

In my hometown, they start fireworks about half an hour after sunset to make sure that it is dark. Just after 9pm this past July.

 

[Graham Greenbag]

The UK is, I believe, currently running on Sun Time. (UK) Sun Time is what would be shown on a Sun Dial sited along the Greenwich Meridian, mid-day, 12.00 hours, noon, is when the sun is directly overhead. In the Summer mid-day (noon) would really be at 1.00 and that difference is misleading.

I’m maybe a bit daft and old-fashioned but I think working in harmony with the Sun is wise and particularly so if you work outside. To me daylight saving seems to push dusk back an hour and give longer evenings, which is maybe nice after a day’s work at the office. On the other hand I’d quite like dawn to be not artificially suppressed and have light and time to do jobs outside before the day in the office starts - well I did when I was a young guy with stuff to be sorting, up and outside before 6.00 doing chores.

 

[UkingViking]

The concept of running pretend-time all year angers me. Some people are also advocating for it in the EU as well.

So, we all set a system so it is noon at 12.00 hours, midnight at 00.00 hours.
People show up to work at, lets say 8.00, and leave at say 16.00.
Someone figures out that we have more light hours after work if we work from 7.00 to 15.00 in the summer time.
So we have to change the schedules back and forth twice a year, remember that everything starts at another time. That is tricky - easier to just set the clock an hour wrong and pretend it is 8.00 when it is really only 7.00. Ok, at least the time is right half the year.
So, someone figures out that setting the clock twice a year is too difficult also. So we should just work 7.00 to 15.00 all year. How to go about that? Well, you would only need to change the schedule once and for all. Get used to it and never think of it again. But in stead, they want to change time itself. Make us teach all future generations that noon is at 13.00 and midnight is at 01.00.

I find it absurd.

How would you from a governmental position change peoples schedules?
Well, if you change those of daycare, schools, public offices, of all subsidized public transport, I guess private businesses would soon follow.

 

[Kenn2018]

I do find that when it gets dark out at 4:30pm now it makes for a short day.

When I was working, having it dark when I got up and drove to work and when I was driving home was very much a downer. A lot more cases of seasonal depression occur as well.

 

[Joe T]

FWIW, I say, just pick one and leave it there. We will all adjust like our predecessors did. Hate the time flip.

 

[Stoneyrun]

I don't care which savings time it is. It's the change that throws me off either way. Doesn't feel right for a couple weeks. Wish we could pick one and stick with it.

 

[EarthSea]

I say let’s bring back the neighbourhood rooster, he will let us know when it’s time to start the day…..
What a bizarre topic for a ukulele site…..

 

[John Colter]

There is only a certain amount of daylight each day, no matter how you set your clocks. It is up to you to decide how to use it.

 

[merlin666]

My preference would be for year round DST, so that it is lighter here in the evening... since I am a late riser.

(Not sure which choice in poll that is...)

And it is too confusing to have to keep track of whether Hawaii is two or three hours behind.

Time change is terrible. And Hawaii is always 4h behind my time. I would prefer 0.

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

I agree with the comment about geographic width / breadth of time zones. For a few years my son lived near the eastern edge of the Central time zone. It became very frustrating when, at this time of year, sunset was at 4:30.

He grew weary of my reminding him of the perspective that days are far shorter for his cousins in Sterling, AK.

 

[ploverwing]

I prefer daylight savings time. I don't have a good reason for it, maybe because I like the position of the clock relative to the light of day when it's summer. I despise the time change process. I also hate that the time change process is inconsistent across Canada: not every time zone respects the change, so some months of the year, one zone is only an hour difference from us, when other months, the same zone is two hours different, while a geographically further time zone does respect the change, and it's consistently three hours difference from us. Time zones are hard enough, why the heck add the lunacy of switching between Standard and Daylight Savings?

We live on a farm. We just have to get up and feed things or get out & feed things when they need feeding, doesn't matter what the clock says. The clock only matters for appointments or obligations to work schedules imposed by others.

 

[merlin666]

I agree with the comment about geographic width / breadth of time zones. For a few years my son lived near the eastern edge of the Central time zone. It became very frustrating when, at this time of year, sunset was at 4:30.

He grew weary of my reminding him of the perspective that days are far shorter for his cousins in Sterling, AK.

This is a big issue in Europe. They voted to get rid of time change but can't agree on which time to keep. But it spans such a huge area from Portugal to Black Sea that there should be at least two time zones and not just one.

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

This is a big issue in Europe. They voted to get rid of time change but can't agree on which time to keep. But it spans such a huge area from Portugal to Black Sea that there should be at least two time zones and not just one.

I neglected to explain (in the context of my son’s previous proximity to the time zone boundary) that I live near the western edge of the Eastern time zone, which makes it very easy to dispense such words of wisdom .

 

[rainbow21]

China spans five time zones but only has one time: Beijing time. This is crazy tough if you live in the far west side and you have to adjust your body clock or schedule to maybe having the sun rise at 10 am. I assume that banks and government entities must follow Beijing time hours for business.

Arizona is really confusing, too. Most of the state is on Mountain Standard Time, similar to Utah. But the Navajo nation in the northeast part follows a daylight savings. Talk about confusing as a tourist. We went to Page, which apparently is not on Navajo land but is administered by the tribes. So we likely asked the hotel what time to set our watches to (MST). The next day we missed our Antelope Valley tour because the tours were run by Navajo people that followed the MDT. Fortunately we were able to get into the next one...

To confuse further, there are two Hopi enclaves within the Navajo lands that follow MST. Within one of these Hopi enclaves is a Navajo enclave that follows MDT. (I believe these are not tourist destinations, phew!)