# A Better Solution to Daylight Savings Time? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 14, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621 "2011-03-14T04:09:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/21 "2011-03-14T14:57:38Z")
1. The only people I know of who have a problem with the current system are a few idiots who don’t understand it. The vast majority of people need a few days to get used to the lost hour, and then everything is fine. (Obviously it’s different in the US, where the idiots are far louder and more dominant, because everybody must cater to them). So you’re trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist for most people. 1. Your solution is orders of magnitude more complex than the existing one. Twice a year one hour is much easier than 2 minutes every week, esp. considering that many people still have old watches (that is, non-synchronous ones). That makes this a bad solution. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/22 "2011-03-14T15:05:06Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I don’t care! I don’t want it! Whatever reason it may be for, it’s not necessary. Set your clocks earlier if you want to wake up earlier. Actually, I set my clock later. So did my employer. And all of my friends. And you! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/23 "2011-03-14T15:10:14Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I don’t care! I don’t want it! Whatever reason it may be for, it’s not necessary. Set your clocks earlier if you want to wake up earlier. Huh? Where’s the downside to it being light out later at night? Now my entire drive home is in daylight, not darkness or partial darkness. Plus I can get 9 holes of golf in after work. Also, it’s still light enough in the morning that my kids aren’t going to school in the dark. Daylight saving time is phenomenally good! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/24 "2011-03-14T15:11:16Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Huh? Where’s the downside to it being light out later at night? Now my entire drive home is in daylight, not darkness or partial darkness. Plus I can get 9 holes of golf in after work. Also, it’s still light enough in the morning that my kids aren’t going to school in the dark. > > Daylight saving time is phenomenally good! So why can’t we just stay on this time all year? I am OK with that! Though I admit I don’t really care about your golf, that’s your problem. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/25 "2011-03-14T15:17:29Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > So why can’t we just stay on this time all year? I am OK with that! Though I admit I don’t really care about your golf, that’s your problem. 'Cause in the middle of June the sun would be rising at 4:14 A.M. That’s why. Fore! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/26 "2011-03-14T15:19:13Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > 'Cause in the middle of June the sun would be rising at 4:14 A.M. That’s why. > Fore! So you can go golfing at that point. 🙂 But seriously, there’s got to be a better way than resetting the clocks twice a year. :smash: ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/27 "2011-03-14T15:19:52Z")
Um, Southern Hemisphere, anybody…? ETA: I mean, the OP’s proposal totally **won’t work** because of its very existence. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/28 "2011-03-14T15:26:58Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > But seriously, there’s got to be a better way than resetting the clocks twice a year. :smash: Actually, we’ve got just about the best way already. That’s why we do it. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/29 "2011-03-14T15:33:11Z")
> [@Noone\_Special](#): > > Um, Southern Hemisphere, anybody…? > > ETA: I mean, the OP’s proposal totally **won’t work** because of its very existence. Well, there’s an easy way to fix that: tell those people to migrate to the Northern Hemisphere, or else the U.S. will send in the Marines. But there’s also the problem of the tropics, where they are thoughtless enough not to realise the benefits of DST. There are too many there to relocate, so we’ll just have to wait until global warming drowns them. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/30 "2011-03-14T15:46:39Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > But seriously, there’s got to be a better way than resetting the clocks twice a year. :smash: There isn’t. You can choose not to do it, or you can do it like this. I’ve not heard any alternate way of shifting activity earlier in the day that isn’t either: - 1,000x as complex as what we do now - doomed to spotty compliance and eventual failure I’d rather live without it than attempt to live with an alternate method. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/31 "2011-03-14T16:23:58Z")
You know how every once in a while some piece of sophisticated machinery blows up because they didn’t convert between [metric and English units](http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/weekly/6Page53.pdf) (warning: pdf)? The problem would be orders of magnitude worse if the units were close enough that it takes careful measurement and analysis to tell the difference. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/32 "2011-03-14T16:25:11Z")
I say split the difference. Move the clocks halfway between standard time and daylight time and keep them there year round. Put the whole world in sync with Newfoundland. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/33 "2011-03-14T16:28:55Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I say split the difference. Move the clocks halfway between standard time and daylight time and keep them there year round. Put the whole world in sync with Newfoundland. But… That’s what they do in Afghanistan! Are you a terrorist or something? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/34 "2011-03-14T17:22:19Z")
> [@The\_Controvert](#): > > But most people dislike the hassle of changing clocks twice a year and having to adjust their bodies to a sudden 1 hour time shift. Your reasons for abandoning DST are less than compelling. a) Changing the clocks is not that big a hassle. Cell phones and computers adjust automatically. I have maybe 3 clocks in my house that need re-setting and 1 in my car. A few seconds on each and I’m good for half a year. No big deal. b) “A sudden 1 hour time shift” is much less dramatic than you make it sound. We changed the clocks at my house before going to bed Saturday night, and had a more-or-less normal day Sunday. By this morning (Monday), I barely even noticed I was getting up “earlier.” Of, course, I get up way too early every weekday anyhow, but that’s beside the point. In my opinion, nothing is broke, so why fix it? You propose a highly complex and expensive solution without a problem. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/35 "2011-03-14T17:36:54Z")
I’m wondering if the people who complain twice a year about DST get over it within a few days. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/36 "2011-03-14T17:38:52Z")
Yeah, goodness. What do you guys do when faced with a difficulty more arduous than resetting your clocks and having a one-hour sleep disruption? ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/37 "2011-03-14T17:40:12Z")
I live in Arizona and we don’t do DST. It just stays the same all year long and it’s one of my favorite things about living here. I’ve always thought DST was wacked, and I love just being able to ignore it when the news talks about ‘time to set your clock forward/back’. I honestly see no advantage to have DST. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/38 "2011-03-14T17:48:22Z")
The benefits of DST become less obvious the closer you are to the equator. Up north we’re glad to get some much needed vitamin D come spring. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/39 "2011-03-14T17:50:46Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’m wondering if the people who complain twice a year about DST get over it within a few days. If it is really that difficult for your body to adjust (and you really never go to sleep an hour early or an hour late :dubious: ) you can adjust in ten minute intervals. Surely you can handle that. It’d take less than a week to prepare. I’m gonna get called out on this one, but whenever i hear this stuff I think about all of the people in refugee camps or hiding in jungles and the like. Plenty of perfectly ordinary middle-class families have had to enter situations where they are surviving off bugs and rats and walking 20 miles a day to say alive. If that happened in modern America- geez! We act like having to park at the back of the mall parking lot is an unbearable burden. Get some resilience, people! ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621/40 "2011-03-14T17:54:43Z")
This sounds similar to Ancient Egyptian time, although in that case, they defined the hour in terms of a specified proportion of the daylight hours, whatever that might be. The Babylonians wanted more precision and introduced the fixed hour (always 1/24th of a solar day), and introduced the minute, using as a fraction their oh-so-favorite number, 60. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-better-solution-to-daylight-savings-time/574621.md?page=3)