Thoughts on Daylight Saving Time...

[Penny68]

When my children were younger I put a pair of thick black curtains up in their bedroom, that helped so much for them to go to sleep.

My biggest worry though for backwards and forwards of the one hour time change was for one of my sons who needed insulin at set times, that was hard to adapt to.

 

[Eloise]

In about 3 weeks we'll be doing 'fall back' (autumn back doesn't have quite the same ring to it!) here in NSW Australia. Most people I know hate DST and wish we'd also pick one or the other and stick to it. I know most tradies (tradespeople) who start working at 7am and often outdoors and finish work around 3pm or so definitely want no DST, while people who like to exercise and get stuff done after finishing their office jobs want permanent DST. However, getting rid of it altogether would keep us in line with Queensland which would be very convenient for people who live on the nsw/queensland border or who often work with Queenslanders.

I think I only personally know one person who has said that they literally don't care about it - if the clock says 7am they wake up, if the clock says 10pm its time for bed and they go to sleep. They don't feel like they 'lose' or 'gain' an hour either way. I wish I could be like that person. Both shifts mess my sleep schedule up - when I was a kid I used to love 'fall back' but now that messes me up too.

Regardless, the time shift is old, passe and its time for it to go, either way. In ~1910 we didn't know about how important the circadian rhythm is. We didn't know that DST would cause a rise in traffic accidents and heart attacks. Now we know. It's unhealthy.

 

[mickey2942]

I live in Salt Lake City. In the summer it stays light till d*amned near 10pm. I hate it.

Truth. We live close to the border, in the Summer it is light well past 10:30.

 

[acutename]

Most of the parents where I live don’t like the darkness in the morning when kids are waiting for school bus pick up, and they don’t like the extra daylight in the evening when trying to get kids to bed. Also many of us walk our dogs early in the morning before work and would prefer the extra daylight in the morning rather than evening.

I’m sure there will be people who prefer morning daylight and those who prefer evening daylight. Personally I just want it one way or the other with no more springing forward or falling back.

the early morning daylight in the winter is when it is still the most cold, but the reality is that we cannot make more daylight, so there is more darkness in the Nov-Feb months no matter how we time it.

 

[acutename]

Not only that...I have six digital type clocks in my kitchen, stoves, microwaves, coffee makers...

So, it drives me crazy for each one to have a different number, so I have to spend an inordinate amount of time to coordinate each one so they are synchronized. I know, it is a strange obsession. Too bad they are not all smart, so I could set them to my phone. Maybe some day.

older vehicle clocks

 

[IceIce9]

I hate it with a passion, thank God and Honda that my new car changes the clock automatically, it used to drive me nuts to have to dig out the manual twice a year. Moo

I had a Subaru Forester and the clock was difficult to change the time. I traded it in for a new Telluride which updates the time automatically. Yay!

 

[Charlot123]

I honestly believe that whatever savings in electric bills we can accrue by DST can be easily offset by the amount of car accidents and events related to lack of focusing in the first two weeks the clock moves again.

What time should we stick to? Winter. Because

"The Ohio Clock in the U.S. Capitol being turned forward for the country's first daylight saving time on March 31, 1918 by the Senate sergeant at arms Charles Higgins."

So basically, after over a century, the correction should be made backwards.

 

[Ozoner]

I absolutely can't stand daylight savings time. I want more light in the morning, not in the evening. It's not surprising that the idiots in congress are pushing for permanent daylight savings time when they should be pushing for permanent standard time.

Permanent daylight savings time would be worse than continuing to change the clocks twice a year. There's nothing that I hate more than driving to work in the dark. Permanent daylight savings time would guarantee that I have to do that for most of the year.

 

[Ceska]

Lots of opinions and thoughts on the topic, how about some thoughts on how to make the change easier?

No one falls asleep at the same time every night and rises at the same time every morning seven days a week. What happens if you stay up late with friends a couple of nights a week? Also, what do shift workers do, and people who travel often (esp. international travel)? What those people do may be helpful for those struggling with changes. Many pros and cons for both, for people doing yardwork, much easier if it is more light in the late afternoon/evening. Due to noise ordinances yardwork at 6AM is not possible. Also, a lot of people do not like driving home from work in the dark, kids waiting to be picked up after school in the dark.... a lot of pros and cons. Let's find ways to make it easier for all of us.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/want-to-feel-better-after-clocks-change-this-weekend-here-s-what-sleep-experts-suggest-1.6774428

 

[IceIce9]

Lots of opinions and thoughts on the topic, how about some thoughts on how to make the change easier?

No one falls asleep at the same time every night and rises at the same time every morning seven days a week. What happens if you stay up late with friends a couple of nights a week? Also, what do shift workers do, and people who travel often (esp. international travel)? What those people do may be helpful for those struggling with changes. Many pros and cons for both, for people doing yardwork, much easier if it is more light in the late afternoon/evening. Due to noise ordinances yardwork at 6AM is not possible. Also, a lot of people do not like driving home from work in the dark, kids waiting to be picked up after school in the dark.... a lot of pros and cons. Let's find ways to make it easier for all of us.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/want-to-feel-better-after-clocks-change-this-weekend-here-s-what-sleep-experts-suggest-1.6774428

Kids waiting for school buses or walking to school in the dark is one of the biggest complaints I hear against DST. When our local tv and radio stations ask for comments from viewers/listeners many people complain about that. Even if they don’t have children of their own people will say that they don’t like to see kids walking to school in the dark.

I’m not sure if there is any way to solve that problem unless school hours change along with DST.

I know people sometimes say, “Just drive your kids to school” but judging by the number of kids I see walking to school when I drive to work driving children isn’t an option for everyone.

 

[branmuffin]

The History of Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is used to save energy and make better use of daylight. It was first used in 1914 in Regina, Canada.

www.timeanddate.com

"Daylight Saving Time (DST) is used to save energy and make better use of daylight. It was first used in 1908 in Thunder Bay, Canada.".

A little history about the origins.

A lot of what drives people crazy about DST is that it impacts people differently depending on where you live. It was initially introduced by a scientist from New Zealand in the the late 1890s but wasn't generally put into practice until WW1. Looking at a map seeing NZ, it's longitude is 40 degrees. In Canada, where I live, longitude is 49 degrees, the border between US and Canada. So we are two countries at the extreme ends of the globe. But those extremes also mean we get extreme changes in light and darkness. It's still light sometimes at 10 pm in the early summer and the same is true for NZ, they get an extra 5 hours of daylight on December 22. Where I grew up in England it could still be light at 11 pm. But what's the value of DST when you live in, let's say, southern California or Florida or Texas where you probably have less than 2 hours difference of daylight between the summer and winter solstice?

I used to work for a police force who understandably worked shift work. There used to be such a kerfuffle when someone worked on a DST switch. They worked an extra hour while Standard time got a short shift. It took years for them to figure out how to reconcile the disparity. They eventually gave overtime payments to those who worked that extra hour, so then everyone wanted to work that shift.

It never really bothered me the change in time, except when I was driving home from work in the winter. And changing the clocks, although that just seemed an annoyance rather than a real affect on my life. Before Canada changed the DST time change month from October to November, it was close getting home in time to hand out treats on Halloween to all the toddlers who came to the door at 5 pm.

It seems everyone wants to get rid of it but I wonder if energy costs could impact it in the future.

To paraphrase Abe Lincoln: you can please all of the people some of the time, you can please some of the people all of the time but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

 

[Penny68]

Benjamin Franklin - an inventor, philosopher and American political heavyweight - first proposed the idea in a letter he wrote when in Paris in 1784. In it he joked that Parisians should be roused from their slumbers an hour earlier by ringing church bells and firing cannons in the street.

The idea didn’t actually resurface until 1895, when New Zealand scientist George Vernon Hudson proposed to his government that the clocks should go forward by two hours every summer. He wasn’t successful.

The idea really took off when a builder called William Willett (who just so happens to be the great-great-grandfather of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin) campaigned in Britain to change the clocks.

It’s thought he was annoyed that his golfing would be interrupted by the sun going down so he wanted to change the law to make sure there would be more light in the evening.

He campaigned for the clocks to change until he died of influenza in March 1915, but it wasn't his love of golf that persuaded Parliament. In the spring of 1916, during World War One, the German army turned the clocks forward as a way of conserving energy. Many (but not all) European governments followed suit shortly afterwards - including the UK.

Opinions are very mixed. Some people say that changing the clocks twice a year upsets the natural rhythm of sleep, which can lead to health problems, such as an increase in the possibility of having a stroke.

However, some say that if the practice was stopped, darker mornings in winter would be more unsafe, for example on the roads. Some industries such as agriculture also rely on there being lots of sunlight available to work in.

In March 2019, the European Parliament voted to end the practice of changing the clocks twice a year, with member states needing to decide whether they would permanently remain on winter or summer time by the end of 2021.

However, the reform has temporarily been put on hold.
There are currently no plans to stop changing the clocks in the UK.

I am in the UK.

 

[Dre]

I say…. Let the farmers decide!
City girl here, but that seems to me the most conscientious way to handle it. Moo

 

[Ceska]

Kids waiting for school buses or walking to school in the dark is one of the biggest complaints I hear against DST. When our local tv and radio stations ask for comments from viewers/listeners many people complain about that. Even if they don’t have children of their own people will say that they don’t like to see kids walking to school in the dark.

I’m not sure if there is any way to solve that problem unless school hours change along with DST.

I know people sometimes say, “Just drive your kids to school” but judging by the number of kids I see walking to school when I drive to work driving children isn’t an option for everyone.

I've heard (and read) a lot about changing how early school starts for the kiddos. And, I agree with many who say it starts too early. Lots of studies done about it, if I had a child in school, I would be aggressively pushing for a later school start, for many reasons.

 

[Ceska]

I say…. Let the farmers decide!
City girl here, but that seems to me the most conscientious way to handle it. Moo

Sadly, not many family farms left in the U.S. (I live in Wisconsin, many of my friends owned family farms that had been in their family for generations, my dad grew up on a farm), now most farms are the big, polluting, factory farms.

'We lost a lot more than that': The toll of losing 40K Wisconsin dairy farms in 4 decades

Wisconsin’s milk production in the last couple of years has been around 30 billion pounds per year — an all-time high. Yet, the state has lost about 40,000 dairy farms over the last four decades. And that number continues to rise by about one farm per day, said Daniel Smith, president and CEO of...

www.wpr.org

How America’s food giants swallowed the family farms

Across the midwest, the rise of factory farming is destroying rural communities. And the massive corporations behind this devastation are now eyeing a post-Brexit UK market

www.theguardian.com

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

I've heard (and read) a lot about changing how early school starts for the kiddos. And, I agree with many who say it starts too early. Lots of studies done about it, if I had a child in school, I would be aggressively pushing for a later school start, for many reasons.

Later school times has to mean later work times for parents. I think it's dicey. I also don't like driving to work in the dark, but I also don't like driving home in the dark. The same kids who have to go to school in the dark will be coming home in the dark in part of the country where it gets dark around 4 pm in the winter. Pros and cons to both, IMO.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Is the U.S. Ending Daylight Saving Time?

Sen. Marco Rubio reintroduced legislation that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent

time.com

Earlier this month, Sen. Marco Rubio reintroduced legislation that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent, proposing an end to the bi-annual clock change that disrupts the lives of millions of Americans.

The Sunshine Protection Act passed unanimously in the Senate last year, but the bill stalled in the House. Sen. Rubio reintroduced the bill in the Senate on March 2 to try to end what he called an “antiquated practice.”

“This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid. Locking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support. This Congress, I hope that we can finally get this done,” Rubio said in a press release on March 2.

As Daylight Saving approaches again on Sunday, March, 12 at 2 a.m., it will bring an additional hour of daylight in the afternoon, but people will lose an hour of sleep when the clocks “spring forward.’...

 

[Erutan]

Sadly, not many family farms left in the U.S. (I live in Wisconsin, many of my friends owned family farms that had been in their family for generations, my dad grew up on a farm), now most farms are the big, polluting, factory farms.

'We lost a lot more than that': The toll of losing 40K Wisconsin dairy farms in 4 decades

Wisconsin’s milk production in the last couple of years has been around 30 billion pounds per year — an all-time high. Yet, the state has lost about 40,000 dairy farms over the last four decades. And that number continues to rise by about one farm per day, said Daniel Smith, president and CEO of...

www.wpr.org

How America’s food giants swallowed the family farms

Across the midwest, the rise of factory farming is destroying rural communities. And the massive corporations behind this devastation are now eyeing a post-Brexit UK market

www.theguardian.com

That's really sad.
Is it because the demand outstrips the supply ?

As far as Daylight Savings Time, we just go with the flow....
But doing away with it altogether would be acceptable , imo.
DST seems to affect people differently and for those who don't want to change, I don't have a valid argument for ending it, either.
Sort of a hassle.
But again that's my .02.

 

[Ceska]

That's really sad.
Is it because the demand outstrips the supply ?

As far as Daylight Savings Time, we just go with the flow....
But doing away with it altogether would be acceptable , imo.
DST seems to affect people differently and for those who don't want to change, I don't have a valid argument for ending it, either.
Sort of a hassle.
But again that's my .02.

Many things, but factory farms are one problem.

'It's a Very Tough Job': Struggle to Save Wisconsin Family Farms

Can dairy farming in Wisconsin survive? Hear excerpts from conversations with farmers and other rural community members.

www.pbs.org

 

[Ceska]

Later school times has to mean later work times for parents. I think it's dicey. I also don't like driving to work in the dark, but I also don't like driving home in the dark. The same kids who have to go to school in the dark will be coming home in the dark in part of the country where it gets dark around 4 pm in the winter. Pros and cons to both, IMO.

Would be interesting to see how families in Alaska deal with it, as well as the Scandinavian countries. They sometimes are in darkness for a very, very long time. We maybe could learn a lot from them.