# Daylight Saving Time **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 1, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424 "2017-11-01T19:46:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/61 "2017-11-02T19:35:39Z")
I think we should figure out a way to get an extra hour both times but also skip the hour 4 pm to 5 pm on a Friday twice a year. Elon Musk should be be to figure out how. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/62 "2017-11-02T19:51:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, to all of those who don’t care if it’s dark out when they go to work, but want as much daylight as possible after they get off, why don’t we change the standard workday from 9 AM-5 PM to 11 PM-7 AM? Then you’d have _all_ the daylight after work. And yet, I doubt this idea will be very popular. Because, among other reasons, shift work (your proposed standard work day is pretty close to the traditional “third shift”) can cause some significant health issues to many people, including sleep disruption (“[Shift Work Sleep Disorder](https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/tc/shift-work-sleep-disorder-topic-overview#1)”). The human body’s circadian rhythm is wired for us to be awake during daylight hours, and sleep during nighttime hours; adopting a reversed sleep schedule can make it difficult to get restful sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/63 "2017-11-02T19:56:49Z")
Gotta love the America-centric whine over DST. Try living in Australia sometime. They have five timezones, but all are not equal. Two are off the one hour difference by 30 minutes and one is off by 45 minutes. And not every area in Oz goes on/off DST. Nor do those areas that have DST switch to DST (and back) is not universal across the country at the same time. It used to be I could fly (in a day) east from Adelaide, SA to Sydney, NSW and gain 30 minutes. Then fly north to Brisbane, QLD, and lose an hour. Go west to Alice Springs, NT, and gain 45 minutes. Then back south to Adelaide, SA and lose 15 minutes. Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/64 "2017-11-02T20:10:39Z")
First, it does not save energy and there is little evidence it ever did, even before air conditioning. For my money, we should get rid of it. But replace it by what? I love those long summer evenings, but I hate those short winter evenings. I don’t have kids at home any more, but the schools start too early anyway and we would all be better off if they started later. So I say, we should move to Atlantic Time (aka EDT) year-round. In a month, the sun will be setting at 4:11 and that is too early. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/65 "2017-11-02T20:55:22Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I confess I don’t get the ‘I don’t care which, but pick one’ sentiment. Is it really that much of a nuisance to change the clocks twice a year? It’s more of a nuisance than _not_ having to change the clocks, that’s for sure. And two of the three clocks in my house that don’t reset themselves are my alarm clocks. I have every expectation of pulling into work an hour late one year. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/66 "2017-11-02T21:07:03Z")
Plus think about all of the schools, hotel, hospitals and other public buildings with multiple clocks that all need to be reset twice a year. How much time is spent collectively by Americans resetting clocks? Also, the time change throws off people’s normal rhythms and sleep patterns. Are there accidents that result? Based on reading the abstract, [this article](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11152980) says yes. So calling it just a “nuisance” is ignoring the scope of the issue. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/67 "2017-11-02T21:43:06Z")
Holy fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/68 "2017-11-02T23:16:32Z")
Kill standard time. The whole twice-a-year time change is painful and, in the modern era, beyond stupid. It’s especially painful for those of us who work shifts, and never are on a 9 to 5 schedule anyway, so it doesn’t fucking _matter_ because we all have electric lights and electricity is effing cheap and none of this saves any money! ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/69 "2017-11-03T00:05:51Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > In your _city_, trick-or-treating ended at 7:00? > > What, is there some sort of local ordinance or something? I don’t think it was anything as severe as an ordinance, but yeah, something like that. And it’s not binding or anything, but sidewalks do start to roll up at the official ending time. (It might be easier in a place where trick-or-treat = Halloween, period. But we have/had a very long-standing local tradition called “beggars’ night” as well, which is/was traditionally the 30th, with the 31st being more for things like costume parties. So when there was no Official Guidance as to a date and time, the people with roots in the area would only give out candy on the 30th and the newcomers would only give it out on the 31st. The newspaper solemnly proclaiming the Official Time for each city gets everyone on the same page.) ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2017, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/70 "2017-11-03T00:37:40Z")
Towns have guidelines on what time it “runs.” Mostly so that it starts before sunset so the kiddies (little ones) can get out and back before it gets too dark. The downside is that it starts at 5 or 5:30, before many get home/out of work. I get out at 4:30, but don’t return home until 5:15 at the earliest. I’d prefer to see it run 6-8. For DST and time zones in general, I’d prefer to see no change of time from EST to EDT or the reverse. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/71 "2017-11-05T01:39:35Z")
My solution would be to make it where the sun rises around the same time, no matter what time of year. I think it would help with SAD and its lesser cousins. I instead compensate with a light. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/72 "2017-11-05T02:00:16Z")
For years, I’ve been advocating for making the time change a weekly thing: Friday at 3:59 pm…BOOM…5 pm. Sunday at 4:59 pm…BOOM…4:00 pm. Talk about a morale boost! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/73 "2017-11-05T02:06:20Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > My solution would be to make it where the sun rises around the same time, no matter what time of year. I think it would help with SAD and its lesser cousins. I instead compensate with a light. If that’s what you want, move to Quito, Ecuador, or someplace else close to the equator. I just checked the sunrise times in Quito for December vs July, and the difference was only about fifteen minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/74 "2017-11-05T15:34:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What I’d _really_ like, since nearly all clocks are computerized nowadays anyway, would be for every clock to set to exactly 6:00 at dawn of every day. This would mean that every location would be at a different time, but computers could be programmed to compensate for that, too. We’d have the same amount of daylight every morning, as much as we could get in the evening, and there’d be no sudden discontinuities. That’s getting close to my plan, but not quite. Keep our time zones, but sunrise always at 6:30am, sunset always at 9:30pm in the center of each time zone. Time in between is divided into 15 daylight “hours” and 9 nighttime “hours”. We’d just need new names for the adjusted times so that hours/minutes/seconds could still be used for times that still need to be constant, like cooking or drying times and vehicle speeds. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/75 "2017-11-05T16:30:22Z")
See, the time change isn’t so bad. 😉 We’re all drinking our coffee and thinking about making lunch. The clocks on my phone and computers updated automatically. My wireless home phone (bought in Jan 2016) requires manually rolling back one digit. The coffee pot only advances hours and minutes forward. 11 pushes of the hour button. Microwave you just enter the new time. I have three analog clocks that require correcting. The end of daylight savings doesn’t annoy me. I get more annoyed by short power failures. My generator kicks in within 5 seconds. But that still means resetting these dumb digital devices. My analog clocks laugh at 5 second power failures and need no attention. We get these wonderful 30 second power failures. Just long enough to crash your PC (unless it’s plugged into a UPS) and gets your digital devices blinking. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/76 "2017-11-05T17:38:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Wait, what? Why would ditching daylight saving time mean that you’d get sunrise at 8:50 am in the winter? DST ends before winter, so with or without it, sunrise in the winter happens at the same time. I was imprecise in my wording. If you ditch the time changes, then the choice is between either sunrise at 4:40am in the summer or 8:50am in the winter. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/77 "2017-11-06T20:30:33Z")
DST, year round. Please and thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/78 "2017-11-06T20:37:05Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > DST, year round. Please and thank you. Absolutely not. Sunrise wouldn’t occur until nearly 9am in December and January. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/79 "2017-11-06T21:14:25Z")
Here in Saskatchewan we’re geographically on the eastern edge of the Mountain Time Zone, but are officially Central Standard Time year round. This is unique enough that our little tract of frozen wasteland gets its very own entry in MS Windows’ time zone list. Effectively we’re on daylight time year round. The only downside is when you have to call someone in Ontario (or wherever) and can’t remember if the time difference is 1 hour or 2 hours. Yeah, the sun doesn’t rise until after 9am in December. And it sets before 5pm, too. It sucks, but those glorious summer evenings in June and July go some way to making up for it. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424/80 "2017-11-06T21:57:19Z")
Hey Neighbor, Don’t forget we’re an hour behind you again…😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time/800424.md?page=5)