# How much time do you waste changing your clocks? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 2, 2008, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697 "2008-11-02T08:13:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/41 "2008-11-03T11:18:48Z")
A few seconds. I only have to change my alarm clock and my watch. Everything else (cars, computers, cells) sets its own clock. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/42 "2008-11-03T17:33:18Z")
Every clock in my house changed itself except one, which I just noticed was unchanged yesterday. I don’t own any watches, just all our cell phones, and they did the work for me too! So I reckon maybe two minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/43 "2008-11-03T17:42:20Z")
My cellphone and both computers changed automatically (though one of the computers changed on the wrong date, so I had to remember to ignore it for the past week), and I haven’t bothered setting a time at all on my microwave since a power outage a year or two ago. That just left my alarm clock and my wristwatch, and the watch I was able to do while I was just standing around waiting for something, so it didn’t really cost any time. The alarm clock took no longer to do than it does to change the alarm, which I do a few times a week anyway. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/44 "2008-11-03T17:45:16Z")
Since virtually the only clocks I ever look at in my house are on my computers and cable boxes and they change themselves, to date the only things I’ve changed are my oven, my microwave, my car, and my watch (just did, thanks to this thread reminding me). Total time spent: about 1 minute, maybe two (my watch has both digital and analog faces and in spite of what it shows in [the movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420223/), changing one does not change the other). ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/45 "2008-11-03T17:53:05Z")
I deliberately don’t like all of my clocks to change. While I don’t like DST much, I find a certain comfort in actually changing the clocks, I’ve noticed. But it couldn’t take me more than ten minutes, and we have a decent amount of clocks: Both computers change themselves Watch Living room clock Bedroom clock Kitchen clock I never set the microwave either, for the same reason as WhyNot - it goes off at the merest hint of a power failure. Then I come to work and reset three more, plus the phones here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/46 "2008-11-03T18:09:04Z")
I didn’t waste a second changing my clocks. It took a minute or two (each) to change my alarm clock & wristwatch. Plus the timer on the coffee pot. (I ignored the stove–I’ve got a nifty little timer that works for cooking.) My PC, cell phone & cable box are automatic. But this was time I _spent_–not wasted. I leave for work early & appreciate not having to do so when it’s darker than Dick Cheney’s heart… ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/47 "2008-11-03T18:37:09Z")
About fifteen minutes to go around the house and reset the ones that need resetting. Amusingly, the digital timer for the front porch light reset the time of day automatically, but it still needed the on and off times adjusted so the light can turn on before it’s dark outside. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/48 "2008-11-03T18:47:04Z")
When I was a kid my mother turned the clocks the wrong way and dropped me off at school 2 hours early. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/49 "2008-11-03T19:11:18Z")
None at all because I don’t change them in the first place. I get a perverse thrill out of telling everyone who tells me my computer clock is wrong that it’s their computer clock that’s wrong. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/50 "2008-11-03T19:27:02Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > When I was a kid my mother turned the clocks the wrong way and dropped me off at school 2 hours early. I’m always afraid I’m going to do this! “Spring forward, fall back.” And, speaking of spring, I notice a lot more people are grumpy about DST in the spring when we all \*\*lose \*\*an hour of sleep! ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/51 "2008-11-04T05:15:55Z")
Let’s see: Bedroom: 4 clocks, including a travel clock. 2 reset automatically 2 watches Living room: 2 clocks Postage meter for my home office Thermostat Computer reset automatically Cell phone reset automatically Kitchen: 1 clock, reset automatically, but I had to put it near an outside window for a few hours Oven Microwave oven Stopwatch Family room: 1 clock DVD player reset automatically Computer reset automatically VCR didn’t. 2 PDAs that reset automatically as soon as I docked them with the computer Answering machine, which I forgot about until just now Office: 1 clock Answering machine Computer reset automatically 2 cameras 2 cars And I just remembered that there’s a timer in the kitchen and a clock in my guest room that I forgot. So by this count, I own at least 32 timekeeping devices, 10 of which are supposed to reset automatically. But three of these actually required some intervention on my part. So I had to reset 22 clocks manually. And when I reset a clock, I usually try to make it precise to the second. So I set my watch then go around to the others and carefully synchronize them. It takes a couple of minutes for each. So I think it took at least 40 minutes Sunday morning, and that’s not including the answering machine and kitchen timer I just did, or the guest room clock I haven’t done yet. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/52 "2008-11-04T17:14:37Z")
Less than five minutes. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697/53 "2008-11-04T17:39:37Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Let’s see: > > … > > So I had to reset 22 clocks manually… Doc Brown? Is that you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-waste-changing-your-clocks/470697.md?page=2)