Let's end daylight saving time

[jtr1962]

Here we go again this Sunday with the twice annual ritual of clock changing. Numerous studies show it's bad for our health, especially when we go back in spring, forcing people to get up an hour earlier. While there are now 19 states seeking to make DST permanent, I think this is the wrong approach to it. Unless and until Congress acts, no state can make DST permanent. However, any state can opt out of DST right now, and make standard time permanent. Arizona and Hawaii already do so. This is the more sensible route. I don't understand the obsession with wanting to keep the clocks an hour ahead permanently. This forces everyone into an earlier schedule, which is obviously bad for night people, and none too great for those who aren't 100% morning people. Besides, standard time is called standard time for a reason. None of the reasons given for keeping DST year round make much sense. A lot of workers already have some degree of flexibility in their schedule. If they want to start work an hour earlier so they have an extra hour of daylight after work, nothing is stopping them. The point is we already have a path to not needing to change the clocks twice a year, namely stick to standard time. Why go the difficult route (keeping DST permanent) which requires Congress to act instead?

 

[bykfixer]

I'm ok with getting up an hour early on a Spring morning and sleeping an hour longer on a cool Fall morning.

Besides, it means another hour of flash light time.

 

[Modernflame]

I'm not sure opting out one state at a time is the right approach. Think of the people who live near state lines. One time zone at home and another at work for part of the year?

 

[nbp]

I agree about not changing the clocks anymore, but I disagree about which time to keep. I would like to keep DST year round. As someone who works outdoors a lot, it's super frustrating when my workday has to end at 4:30pm because after that is too dark to see. I think a lot more people would prefer to have their daylight in the evening than in the morning. Far more useful time of day to get things done.

 

[chip100t]

I agree about not changing the clocks anymore, but I disagree about which time to keep. I would like to keep DST year round. As someone who works outdoors a lot, it's super frustrating when my workday has to end at 4:30pm because after that is too dark to see. I think a lot more people would prefer to have their daylight in the evening than in the morning. Far more useful time of day to get things done.

Just start your work day an hour earlier. It's effectively the same thing.

 

[nbp]

I work at people's homes. I typically start at 8:00am which is about as early as people generally want you there, so that is not really a viable option.

 

[idleprocess]

I would love to see DST go.

I think a lot more people would prefer to have their daylight in the evening than in the morning

I've spent so many years outside of the typical "nine to five" - shift work for more than a decade followed by the often-irregular hours of production IT support for another 5 years now - that I don't have a particularly strong opinion on how it should be set. I also suspect my routine is less bound to the schedules of others than many. Working from home in a now de facto windowless room (I put up rigid foam insulation as a stopgap fix for the massive windows' declining ability to insulate) I'm also a bit separated from an intuitive sense of what time it is during the workday - in addition to the blackout curtains I hung in the bedroom when I was doing shift work.

I recall that an additional hour of daylight in the evening for golf was one of the original motives once the facade of "energy savings" was peeled back.

 

[richbuff]

One of the benefits of living in Arizona while on earth. No DST. But we do have dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and all of the other bad things on earth, and some of the good things, too.

 

[jtr1962]

I work at people's homes. I typically start at 8:00am which is about as early as people generally want you there, so that is not really a viable option.

Depending upon how far north you are, there's often little or no daylight until 8 AM anyway even if DST were in effect.

If you're working outside, why would it matter if you come before 8 AM? If the people you're doing work for are sleeping, so be it. If the work is inside the house, then hours of daylight are moot. I remember when we had the driveway done and the roof done. Both times they came well before 8. Didn't matter if we were up or not then.

EDIT: Just wondering what's wrong with using artificial lighting? I redid my patio (i.e. set the paver blocks in concrete instead of dirt because they had shifted) in December 2019. Being a late riser, and having to take care of my mother first, I often didn't get to it until the sun was down. The floodlights I had in the yard were adequate. I see super bright ones when they're doing road work at night.

 

[jtr1962]

I'm not sure opting out one state at a time is the right approach. Think of the people who live near state lines. One time zone at home and another at work for part of the year?

How does it work now in states bordering Arizona?

 

[jtr1962]

I recall that an additional hour of daylight in the evening for golf was one of the original motives once the facade of "energy savings" was peeled back.

I recall in a lot of states the supposed reason for moving the clocks ahead, except in the winter, was because children in rural areas would be going to school when it's still dark in the winter. Evidently that's not a big issue if so many states now want DST year round. Maybe "evening golf" is more a reason for this than we thought.

 

[idleprocess]

EDIT: Just wondering what's wrong with using artificial lighting?

While I can't speak for nbp, I'm going to speculate that the setup for adequate lighting would be an additional time liability / expense and that homeowners get antsy around sundown and want work wrapping around then.

 

[Cyclops942]

I live in Arizona now, and have since 2005. But even as a kid in the '70s, when I did NOT live in Arizona, I thought DST was a stupid idea. And so that solar noon will align more closely with noon on the clock, I would say that keeping Standard Time all year long would be the right way to go.

Also, just to be that pedantic nit-picker, it's "Daylight Saving Time," not "Daylight Savings Time" -- sorry, but it had to be said.

 

[jtr1962]

I live in Arizona now, and have since 2005. But even as a kid in the '70s, when I did NOT live in Arizona, I thought DST was a stupid idea. And so that solar noon will align more closely with noon on the clock, I would say that keeping Standard Time all year long would be the right way to go.

Also, just to be that pedantic nit-picker, it's "Daylight Saving Time," not "Daylight Savings Time" -- sorry, but it had to be said.

Thread title changed. And yeah, noon should align with the sun being at its highest point in the sky. I guess I'm a purist in that regard.

 

[Lark Hunter]

How does it work now in states bordering Arizona?

I live in Arizona, and used to date someone in Utah; traveled there almost every weekend for awhile. Just got used to driving through a time zone part of the year, and being the same the rest. Didn't seem like any towns near the state lines did anything to accommodate the change, but then again, I mostly sped across the borders and didn't pay too much attention to what was going on. Does seem much more weird now that I live full time in a place that doesn't do the DST shuffle (I'm originally from Montana).

 

[Olumin]

Yes, no DST please. Seems the EU cant make up its mind about this either.

 

[bykfixer]

Don't forget to change your clocks tomorrow night or Sunday morning.

 

[hsa]

That's the part I hate.

 

[bykfixer]

So many watches. Ugh!
My house has 4 clocks so that's no biggy, and my "fall" watches will come out to play since they don't get changed over to DST. The digital kind where you have to push button A, or is it B? I can never remember so I just keep those set on standard time.

 

[Modernflame]

I live in Arizona, and used to date someone in Utah; traveled there almost every weekend for awhile. Just got used to driving through a time zone part of the year, and being the same the rest. Didn't seem like any towns near the state lines did anything to accommodate the change, but then again, I mostly sped across the borders and didn't pay too much attention to what was going on. Does seem much more weird now that I live full time in a place that doesn't do the DST shuffle (I'm originally from Montana).

Imagine it's a daily commute to the office. Now think of those workers who already live near the border of a time zone. You could end up gaining or losing two hours on the way to work. That's a life of jet lag. I think there should be a single, national solution rather than a patchwork of individual states opting in or out.