# Daylight savings time, love it or hate it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 6, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635 "2002-07-06T15:49:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/1 "2002-07-06T15:49:42Z")
I hate it! Living here in the south, with the daytime temperature in the high 90’s, you have to wait until dusk to do anything outside. During the work week, I have to get up at 6 AM and it’s much easier to wake up with the sun streaming in the windows, which it would be if we did not shift the clocks. BTW a factiod that I read recently, daylight savings time killed the drive in movie theaters. So, what do y’all think? ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/2 "2002-07-06T15:53:32Z")
Love it Although I wish that they would make it light at 6 a.m. all year round and dark at 9 p.m. **all year round.** ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/3 "2002-07-06T17:10:25Z")
It should be abolished. Effectively, it puts every man, woman, and child into jet lag twice a year. The amount of lost work, the number of accidents caused must be extraordinary. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/4 "2002-07-06T17:27:46Z")
Love it. 'Round here the sun sets around 4:30 in the winter. Therefore, the 9:30 summer sunsets make a nice contrast. ---
**Author:** ![de\_trop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@de\_trop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/de_trop)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/5 "2002-07-06T17:51:33Z")
Did you know it was invented by Benjamine Franklin? It’s in one of his books. The original early to riser was confounded by his city “burning the candle at both ends of the day”, both morning and evening, instead of rising with the sun throughout the year. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/6 "2002-07-06T18:21:28Z")
I hate it in the spring when it changes. I love it in the summer when it gets dark later and in the fall when there’s an extra hour to sleep. During the winter, I wish there was some other system we could use that would allow it to be light longer. Oh, well can’t have everything. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/7 "2002-07-06T18:53:33Z")
I like it. I, too, wish it could be year-round, but not until we have a civilized society where nobody has to be at work or school before 9 a.m. Jet lag? Who on earth experiences jet lag from a difference of _one_ hour? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cheapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8e7dd6/32.png) [@El\_Cheapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cheapo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/8 "2002-07-06T20:38:35Z")
It’s Daylight Saving Time, not Saving **s** ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/9 "2002-07-06T20:47:18Z")
You beat me to it, **El Cheapo**. No “s”. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/10 "2002-07-06T22:35:45Z")
> [@](#): > > BTW a factiod that I read recently, daylight savings time killed the drive in movie theaters I highly, highly doubt this. Drive-ins were already decreasing in popularity by the late 1960s (in fact, the number of screens began decreasing in 1958) and were well past their peak by the time Nixon signed the Federal DST law in 1974. Changing demographics, shifting move business economics, and the rise of multiplexes were responsible for the death of the drive-in. > [@](#): > > Effectively, it puts every man, woman, and child into jet lag twice a year. The amount of lost work, the number of accidents caused must be extraordinary. Well, except for the men, women and children in NW Indiana, Hawaii and Arizona, or course. But in any case, if it must be so extraordinary, surely you have a cite? ---
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/11 "2002-07-07T01:03:31Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by El Cheapo \* > **It’s Daylight Saving Time, not Saving** s_\* \*\* Oh my gawd, I’ve run afoul of the grammar police. Harrumph…may it please the court: and what follows is a quote from [http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/b.html](http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/b.html) "Spelling & grammar "The official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight SavingS Time. "Saving is used here as a verbal adjective (a participle). It modifies time and tells us more about its nature; namely, that it is characterized by the activity of saving daylight. It is a saving daylight kind of time. Similar examples would be dog walking time or book reading time. Since saving is a verb describing a single type of activity, the form is singular. "Nevertheless, many people feel the word savings (with an ‘s’) flows more mellifluously off the tongue, and Daylight Savings Time is also in common usage, and can be found in dictionaries. “Part of the confusion is because the phrase Daylight Saving Time is inaccurate, since no daylight is actually saved. Daylight Shifting Time would be better, but it is not as politically desirable. In fact, scientifically misguided politicians sometimes misunderstand. In 1995, the British Time (Extra Daylight) Bill was introduced by John Butterfill, attempting the impossible – to legislate extra daylight. The bill did not pass.” Savings shmavings…I still have to get up too damned early! ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/12 "2002-07-07T01:58:02Z")
I don’t care but hate the change. Just decide what tiime it is once and for all and leave the F’n clock alone ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/13 "2002-07-07T02:45:01Z")
Love it, live for it. Up here, we suffer through 6 months of hell. Daylight savings time tells me that I am about to be rewarded for putting up with another goddess-awful winter. ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/14 "2002-07-07T06:14:47Z")
Man does this thread feel Pit-Bound™. Or is it just me? As for m’self, I just think it’s a pointless exercise in over controlling everything around us. Are we as a people **so** anal-retentive that we can’t handle the idea that at different times of the year, the sun rises and sets at slightly different times of the day? Must we have such control of our environment that dealing with something as natural as _the seasons of the year_ is just so bloody mind-boggling? Think a minute about what DST could lead to, in a (silly and exaggerated) worst case scenario: [list=1][li]The sun must always rise and/or set within a certain 1 hour window, everywhere, implement DST.[/li][li]The average temperature must never vary more than 10 degrees F, activate the Big-Honking-Snow-Melting-Heaters, and Mondo-Gargantua-Air-Cooling-Systems, as needed, stat![/li][li]No man made structure shall be more than 5 shades (on the Big Brother Handy Color Chart) away from the universally-agreed-upon median color of Beige. Put ‘Operation Paint Every Damned Thing’ into effect at once, sub-commander![/li][li]No mammalian life form shall have hair longer than 6 inches, or shorter than 1 inch in length. Order the Unified-Cut-And-Paste-Hairstylists-Union into active duty immediately, Proctor![/li][li]Furthermore, no…[/li][/list=1] \ **Guess it was just me, after all.** ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/15 "2002-07-07T06:48:01Z")
I heard **Fretful** , it takes one day to recover completely from every hour change in time. I have nothing in the way of a cite, but it seems reasonable. Going across country is pretty easy to recover from. Travelling to Europe from California, isn’t. Regardless, the implemenation of Daylight Saving Time is arbitrary. Some group of modern Victorians wants the sun to rise at a particular time, dictated by the perfect angle of the sun on Sugar Frosted Flakes, or whatever. Their solution? Change the time twice a year. Whoa. Doesn’t that mean that time is only “perfect” twice a year? And the rest of the year we’re suffering, terribly suffering over time that’s out of adjustment, but not so much the government wants to make a ruling about it? Why not have clocks that change continually so that 6:00 A.M. was sunrise everywhere? Wouldn’t that make the world a better place? ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/16 "2002-07-07T06:57:10Z")
I like it. It’s a nice change of pace. Keeps me on my toes twice a year. ---
**Author:** ![erin\_uh\_oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@erin\_uh\_oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erin_uh_oh)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/17 "2002-07-07T08:04:23Z")
my sleep schedule is terrible anyway, so daylight saving (i desperately want to add an “s,” please can i??)…s time never throws me off much. when i was little, i asked my dad how come people changing their clock made the day end later…i imagined that clocks were in control of the sun, and that if everyone changed their clock, they could make the sun come out and go away at will. my dad didn’t understand what i was asking and tried explaining it to me, which was useless because i didn’t get it at all, and he wound up yelling at me and i cried. nevertheless, i still love daylight savings (!) time. (the no-s pronunciation is so unnatural, like when they try to get me to say “driver license” instead of driverS license". let my people go!) ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/18 "2002-07-07T10:38:08Z")
I never liked it. I dislike the concept. It’s so unnatural. I would rather they move work and school times then move the actual time. Actually I would rather the entire world choose 1 specific time and if you’re in a place where you get up at 4pm, with the sunrise and work from 6pm to 2am then so be it. And I’d go even further too. Split the day into 10 hours made up of 100 minutes each containing 100 seconds. Sigh, if only. That would be so cool. Really something to bore the grandkids with. “Why in my day …” Thankfully I’ve only had DST 2 years in Texas. Good thing I was only 11 and didn’t have to worry about setting the clocks. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/19 "2002-07-07T11:30:13Z")
I think skeezix and partly\_warmer have been out in the sun too long. In the tropics, I’ll admit DST may seem of little use, but get far from the equator and the benefit of not driving around in darkness at 4 p.m. becomes apparant. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635/20 "2002-07-07T15:11:50Z")
> [@](#): > > nd the rest of the year we’re suffering, terribly suffering over time that’s out of adjustment, but not so much the government wants to make a ruling about it? Where is this suffering? I have never met a person who was even a little but put out by having to change the clocks, except maybe being late to work on the day the clocks get moved ahead. Good grief. “Terribly suffering?” I think you’re exaggerating more than a little here. The whole bloody point of the 1974 law, and the adoption of DST during the two World Wars, was to **save energy**. If we change the clocks twice a year so that it’s daylight during the hours when most people are awake, we don’t have to turn lights on all over the house, and thus we save electricity and put less burden on electrical generating plants. In these days when we’re being told how important it is to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels, this should be an obviously good thing. > [@](#): > > Split the day into 10 hours made up of 100 minutes each containing 100 seconds. You realize this would change not only the day, but the calendar? The year would begin on a different day every year. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-love-it-or-hate-it/117635.md?page=2)