Daylight savings time

[Falcrack]

Once again I am deprived of an hour of sleep so that the sun can set at 10 pm in the summer. What are your thoughts on this?

[Vertigo 7]

well all I know is that if you cut a blanket in half and sow the bottom piece to the top, you don't get a longer blanket.

[CBJ]

This seems to be a much more controversial subject in the US than in Europe. People do occasionally moan about it a bit here, but there seems to be a general understanding that it's a compromise to help those in the most northerly countries. I guess the difference comes because, apart from Alaska which is on a different timezone anyway, the rest of the US is far enough south that it doesn't really benefit anyone much.

[fiksal]

I don't care which time, just pick one and stop changing it

[mr.WHO]

This seems to be a much more controversial subject in the US than in Europe. People do occasionally moan about it a bit here, but there seems to be a general understanding that it's a compromise to help those in the most northerly countries. I guess the difference comes because, apart from Alaska which is on a different timezone anyway, the rest of the US is far enough south that it doesn't really benefit anyone much.

It's controversial even in Europe - while everyone agree that we should stop time change I doubt we can agree which time should be the leading one (summer or winter time?) - the problem is that between Western-most and Eastern-most parts of Europe one would prefere Winter time and other would prefere Summer time.



We can either be screwed by time change twice a year
or
screwed by 2 separate time zones in europe, where you would have to artificially switch hour when crossing it
or
screw half-the-continent (or third, the people in the middle would be relatively fine) by imposing the time zone that would be off-by 1-hour one way or another


There is no perfect solution for this problem.

[CBJ]

...while everyone agree that we should stop time change...

No, they don't. I have rarely heard anyone voice a strong opinion in this direction in RL. On the internet, yes, but then mainly from people in the US, hence my comment.

[Vertigo 7]

I just don't see what changing the time on my clocks matters at all. If its to benefit a business, or a farm, or some thing that has no bearing on what time it says in my clocks, they can change their operating hours whenever they wish as often as they like.

[CBJ]

The reasons given in the UK were never anything to do with businesses. They related to road safety and schools, particularly in Scotland and the north of England. Having kids going to school in the dark in winter was considered dangerous, but without changing the clocks, you ended up with people getting woken up too early by the sunlight in summer. How true the safety aspect of it was, and how relevant it is now, is debatable, but it's still not pleasant. Again, this may seem like a non-issue to people living south of the 49th parallel, but further north it's more than just a minor inconvenience. It's not so easy to "just change operating hours" in that situation.

[felter]

Back in the seventies, the then UK government tried out not changing the clocks while things were great for those in the south up north it caused chaos, for example at part of the year it was still dark when the kids were going to school in the morning and there were a lot of serious accidents with kids being injured in car accidents, as you had all these drivers still half asleep heading to work in the dark with kids running around that they just didn't see. I was a kid at the time and I remember being outside during the summer after 11, and it was still daylight normally we would have been in our beds at that time as it would be dark, I never figured that out till years later when I heard that they experimented that year with the time, and it was a failure. While the changing of the clocks may seem inconvenient for some, for others it is a major part of their life and an essential part of living, and if you mess around with it, it can also be life ending. But a lot of those in the south don't care as it's not their lives that are on the line, if it was, they would be singing a totally different tune.

[CBJ]

Hey, don't tar everyone with the same brush, please! I live in the south and I've been putting forward the arguments on behalf of those it affects. And to be fair, it's actually somewhat beneficial even down here (about 50° north, so still further north than most of the USA).

[mr.WHO]

I might be the weird one, but I don't feel any negative effects from time change - it's even opposite - the 2-3 weeks before time change hits me negatively due to time/sunlight discrepancy and it goes away after time switch.


If we would have to go away from time change, I think I'd prefere Winter time.

Having Winter time in Summer doesn't hit that bad, comparing to having Summer time in Winter.

[chew-ie]

For me it's no big deal - most of the time I don't recognize there was a change. All my clocks are set automaticly and my inner clock has it's own time. (I usually wake up before my alarm, get tired after 12 hours behind the desk etc.)

[Falcrack]

All I can say is, I lived in Arizona for a few years, and loved not having to deal with the clock changing. They have permanent standard time there. It did make it a little confusing though figuring out what time it was in other states, especially for such things as scheduling conference calls.

Arizona is pretty far south, so it makes more sense there to not make the switch.

[Vertigo 7]

The reasons given in the UK were never anything to do with businesses. They related to road safety and schools, particularly in Scotland and the north of England. Having kids going to school in the dark in winter was considered dangerous, but without changing the clocks, you ended up with people getting woken up too early by the sunlight in summer. How true the safety aspect of it was, and how relevant it is now, is debatable, but it's still not pleasant. Again, this may seem like a non-issue to people living south of the 49th parallel, but further north it's more than just a minor inconvenience. It's not so easy to "just change operating hours" in that situation.

That's kind of my point tho. Entities that need to take advantage of a time shift, for whatever reason, can do so on their own. They don't need Joe Bob to change his clocks. If schools need to open and close an hour earlier or later during certain times of the year for student safety, so be it. That should be up to the governing body of the schools to make that determination because that doesn't effect every single person in their vacinity.

[fiksal]

I live in the north and if we kept the winter/standard time, my kid would go to school during day time though the year.

I am not sure how far north do I need to be for that to not be true.

If we stop changing time, I am sure schools will adjust. Or not since I don't see that it'll affect them

[Observe]

Split the difference and leave it at that. Schools etc. can adjust their schedules if they want.

[fiksal]

Split the difference and leave it at that. Schools etc. can adjust their schedules if they want.

exactly.

change the schedules that must change.

I notice different schools already have different start times

[Alan Phipps]

Schools individually setting significantly different start/end times could be chaotic for working parents dropping off and picking up (especially those dropping/collecting different aged children at different schools). In my area the community Infant school drops off and picks up 5 mins before the nearby community Junior school, for just that reason.

It would also be chaos for the bus companies running school routes for older pupils to a circuit of various local schools. Then there are meal timings with contract caterers, teaching staff that share time in different schools, shared contract and support staff, touring PE/sports instructors ....

[fiksal]

I can ask around, but the start times differ here, not by 1 hour maybe

our school opens at 6am, some parents drop of kids then, buses come around 7:30, school starts at 8am

I have been told some schools in the area start at 7:30.

Google at least says the start time generally vary between 8am and 9am

[alt3rn1ty]

I'm all for keeping things the way they are, I live in Scotland.
I dont get the argument against it though, yes we lose 1 hour once per year, but we also gain 1 hour once per year.
My Wife and Daughters look forward to that extra hour in bed, its like a nice thing to look forward to once per year.
I used to live on the south coast of the UK, after coming to Scotland its amazed me how much difference the curved ball of the Earth makes to daylight, especially in winter.

Edit: I also concur with what CBJ said, whether living in the South or the North of the UK throughout my 60 years, I have never heard anyone complaining about it.