Is now a good time to abolish "daylight savings" time?

[Electric Monk]

I've read studies saying it saves pennies a year, at most, for the average household, and in fact it increases medical bills for some too.

Time to forget about it and decide to call time "time" again?

Discuss.

[tavalon]

1. I really don't care one way or another, but if it increases medical bills

then I think we should abolish it. My son, who is autistic, is going to get enough sleep tonight which isn't usual for him and true enough, he may end up getting up an hour early. But in spring, it is hell getting him to bed the night after the change.

[Electric Monk]

4. I'm not vouching for this link, it's just something I've read and seen quoted

http://www.health-insurance.org/daylight-savings-health-heart

[Odin2005]

68. Ugh, sounds like me when I was little.

:(

[pnwmom]

2. Absolutely NOT. I wish we had it all year. n/t

[TexasProgresive]

17. What daylight is there to "save" in the winter

when the days are less then 12 hours long? In 72 or 73 they tried yearlong DST and it put kids at risk since they were going to school in the dark and getting home in the dark.

[pnwmom]

18. Here it would mean dark at 5:30 pm instead of 4:30. I'd prefer 5:30.

In the morning it's still dark either way.

[KittyWampus]

32. most kids are ferried to and from school in their parents SUV's. Sorry, but it's the biggest pile

of steaming poo about all these supposedly endangered kids having to walk home in the dark.

[tonysam]

46. Agree. Standard time is total shit.

[pnwmom]

56. Same argument goes for walking TO school in the dark. n/t

[LuvNewcastle]

3. I'm all for it.

It takes me months to get my sleeping rhythms back to normal after we change to Daylight Saving Time. I look forward to getting that lost hour back tonight.

[pnwmom]

5. Year-long daylight savings time would eliminate the problem, too. n/t

[billh58]

82. I've lived

in Hawaii all of my adult life, and have not experienced DST for over 50 years. It is, however, a PITA to have to keep track of the different Mainland time zones when doing business over the phone...;-)

[Syrinx]

6. I vote for eliminating standard time

I prefer the extra daylight at the later hour.

[Jakey]

7. The prospect of some children going to school...

...in the dark would be a tough sell

[Syrinx]

12. I don't think they should go to school before daybreak

Here, I think even with DST, the sky is fully lit by about 6. 6:30, tops.

[pnwmom]

22. As it is, many have to go home in the dark. Either way, in parts of the country

there just isn't enough light in December.

[sarge43]

23. Yes. I drove school bus in NH.

For several weeks either side of the winter solstice by the time I dropped off the last kid it was twilight or dark. If it were cloudy or snowing, it was dark (car and house lights on full).

[Jakey]

53. Latest Sunrises are in early January

Should DST never be changed back to standard, in New York City, for example, the sun would not rise until 8:20 AM for about a week. The further west you go in each time zone, the later the sunrise would be. In Louisville, KY, the sun would not rise until 9 AM with "dawn" commencing at 8:30.

It just ain't gonna happen.

[pnwmom]

54. Well, it did happen, so it could happen again. n/t

[Odin2005]

69. Then the school times should be changed.

Oh wait, can't do that, would make to much sense, let's fuck with time instead. :eyes:

[Dumak]

8. the reason for having a time-shift is as follows

1. In the winter you want to make sure that kids are walking to/from school in the daylight. In northern states, there isn't much daylight before and after school.
2. Without the time-shift, in the summer (and late spring and early fall) people would have the same amount of daylight both before and after work/school. So "savings time" was introduced to reduce the daylight period in the morning (before work/school), and provide more time outside after work/school.

Obviously, schools and businesses could adjust their opening/closing hours instead of adjusting the clocks, but I'm guessing adjusting the clocks was deemed less confusing - it removes the need for posting separate summer/winter hours.

It has very little to do with saving energy.

Now, reading the posts here, when people are talking about wanting to get rid of daylight savings time, they are really talking about eliminating the time-shift. I'm not sure that would happen - schools/businesses would just adjust their opening/closing times.

I'm in favor of keeping the time-shift because I don't want to waste so much daylight in the morning.

[SPedigrees]

13. Only schools would need to adjust their hours to perpetual DST.

School days starting and ending one hour later than the current schedule would fix the problem.

[wavesofeuphoria]

27. and bus drivers, parents work hours, school suppliers, etc ...

[demodonkey]

9. NO. I have a farm and I need Daylight Savings. It's crucial & I wish we had it year 'round. nt

[Electric Monk]

10. ok, but that's another reason to abolish it too. Keep it one way all year round. nt

[demodonkey]

11. Then keep it on Daylight Savings. You can't harvest some crops in the early AM when fields are wet.

If you hold another job, like most family farmers, you have to harvest AFTER work. And you need daylight then to do so efficiently.

[pnwmom]

19. Me, too. I loved having it year round. n/t

[anigbrowl]

63. No you don't

You can just choose what time to start work. Don't me your cows/ chickens/ crops or whatever are relying on what the clock says, or that your employees can't start at different times of day depending on the time of year.

[dysfunctional press]

88. he has a regular job as well...

so yes, he does.

[Union Yes]

14. Big Pharma profits off the depression created be DST. In other words fugettaboutit.

[pnwmom]

20. DST doesn't cause depression. Quite the opposite, in my experience. n/t

[Eric68601]

15. George W. Bush broke my alarm clock.

I bought one of those fancy clocks at Wal-Mart that will set themselves and adjust for daylight savings and all that. It worked great till George Bush changed the damn date for daylight savings.. Our President should rescind yet another of GWB's failure signings and protect my Wal-Mart purchase.

[KharmaTrain]

16. I Want Single Payer Savings Time...

And I want it now!!!!!!!!!

[pnwmom]

21. Yeah, right. n/t

[NuttyFluffers]

24. wish it would go away. quite annoying.

besides, i'm not that big of a fan of daylight anyway, so why would i want to save any of it? :shrug:

[etherealtruth]

25. Pick a time ...any time

Day light savings or standard .... pick one (I don't really care) and stick with it.

I object to the time changes.

[DaveinJapan]

26. There's no time change in Japan where I live, is this strictly an American invention?

I will admit, the winter is pretty depressing with the sun sinking away before dinner time (it sinks pretty early in America too though), but it's kind of weird to be in America in the summer and have the bright sunlight still hitting you close to 9pm.

Perhaps someone could explain why this is so necessary, I don't really get it myself (except for being stressed when my friends in America become yet another hour behind me...sucks for phone calls lol).

[sarge43]

38. Nope. In fact Japan is one of the few Northern Hemisphere

nations that doesn't use it.

http://www.worldtimezone.com/daylight.html

This one Americans can't be blamed for.

Until o/a mid 19th century generally speaking most people got up with the sun and went to bed with same. Adjusting what clocks there were wasn't necessary. Many did, but certainly no standardization. (Uncle Albert merely reminded us of something we intuitively knew already - time is relative to the observer). It didn't matter what time the folks in the next county or state were keeping and of course no quick way to know. Then, telegraph and railroads came on line and it began to matter. Standardization became essential. If you want a head banger, find a transcontinental railroad schedule circa 1880s - bizarro world. One county would have arrival time 4:22pm, the one next and west to it, 3:45pm.

The idea and use of DST has been around for a long time. However, until a world standard time kicked in, it was strictly a local thing and still is for many places.

Germany and its allies were the first nations to officially adopt DST in 1916. Britain and its allies quickly followed. The US in 1918.

[DaveinJapan]

83. Interesting. Thanks. nt

[marmar]

28. I like daylight savings time.....

Here in the western part of the eastern time zone, the sun doesn't set until almost 10 in late June.

[surrealAmerican]

29. I thought it had more to do with reducing highway fatalities ...

... than energy savings. Doesn't it keep the rush hours in daylight as much as possible?

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. No

[spanone]

31. no, everyone just changed their freaking clocks

[ms liberty]

33. I want daylight savings time year round...

I physically feel better during DST. I'm more alert and energetic. I also prefer more daylight in the afternoon because I can get home from work and have daylight time with my dogs.

[dpbrown]

34. A stupid idea whose time has long past

Daylight Savings Time is an abomination.

[tonysam]

44. Standard Time is stupid.

People somehow think they have an "extra" hour in the morning to sleep in, but they are robbed of the extra daylight at the end of the day.

Let me tell you, IT STINKS TO HAVE DARKNESS AT 5 o'clock.

[Bluerthanblue]

57. it stinks to have darkness at 6am too-

depends on your personal prefrence. I'd prefer we just go back to 'standard' time- and leave the frickin clocks alone. How about we end our work days earlier in the dark season? And work a little longer in the endless days of better weather? Why do we always have to try and fight the natural order of things, and manipulate our environments so intently? We seem to be caught in a rigid, cycle of 'produce'- 'perform'- 'conform'.

There is much to be said for working with the natural cycles of this earth- rather than continually fighting against them.

imo

:hi:

[pnwmom]

59. "Standard time" is merely a social construction. Our "standard time" could be

what we now call "daylight savings time" if we wanted it to be.

[Odin2005]

74. Standard time aproximates true solar time, adjusted for time zone synchronization.

And that's the way it should be. Our clocks should be close to true solar time, anything else makes no sense.

[pnwmom]

75. We've already adjusted it for time zone synchronization, which is another

socially constructed standard. We can adjust it any way we choose.

[Odin2005]

72. THEN GET UP EARLIER, GO TO BED EARLER!

[dpbrown]

86. I don't care which one is stupid, noon is when the sun is straight up

Tinkering with it is just dumb. Just leave it one way or the other. Personally, I would prefer more time in daylight in the morning than in the evening, but to each his or her own.

[pipi_k]

35. I'd rather have a daylight savings time account I can use on cloudy/rainy days

I would promise to use it wisely and not exceed my daylight credit limit


:7

[Posteritatis]

36. I think the clock should move ahead/back a random amount each switch

Come the spring, set it four and a half hours ahead! Come the following fall, 2d6 hours back!

[itsrobert]

37. It's meant to save BUSINESSES/CORPORATATIONS money

It puts the burden on the public to use the electric/gas when we need it the most.

[hunter]

39. Hell yes. And a thirty hour work week too.

Economic "productivity" is overrated. It's bad for the environment. Want to "give" people some "extra" daylight outside of work? Take away the work.

[Seeking Serenity]

40. Keep it just like it is, except move the "fall back" date back to the last Sunday in October

Other than that, do absolutely nothing.

[tonysam]

45. What? It's already that way. n/t

[Seeking Serenity]

47. No, the "fall back" date is the first Sunday in November presently.

As today is.

[anigbrowl]

66. And the point of this is...?

[anigbrowl]

67. And what would be the point of such a change?

[Seeking Serenity]

89. About the same point as moving the date back a week. What was the point?

From a strictly personal point of view, nothing that any bearing at all on national policy, I preferred it when it got darker earlier for Halloween. The children could get started with their merriment sooner, and, thus, be finished sooner. This year, it didn't get dark 'til almost 7pm.

I'm a mother. I think about these things.

[Deja Q]

41. "Daylight saving" time, actually.

I heard somewhere that there are more heart attacks during the hour-transition in spring...

[area51]

42. Time changes

We need to stop bouncing back and forth between daylight savings and "regular" time; just fscking pick one, stick with it, and be done with it. Human beings are not ping-pong balls that should be bounced back and forth between the two. I believe there's been studies done that changing our sleep cycles like this leads to sleeplessness and more accidents.

[tonysam]

43. Hell, no.

I LOVE the extra hour in the evening.

Standard time SUCKS, big time.

I can't understand the hatred some have for DST; it sounds like there are people out here who aren't a bit active outside of their work.

[eppur_se_muova]

48. Supposedly, Benjamin Franklin suggested DST as a joke ...

no one was supposed to take it seriously.

[pink-o]

49. Write me down as someone who LOVES DST

This time of year always depresses me. Maybe because I live in a place where there aren't any real seasons--except Rocktober, where it totally feels like summer in San Francisco. Today, November 1st, it is about 75 degrees here, and it's gonna get dark at 5:30. Rip off! I dealt with fog for the 15 hour days in June and July; now I want as much daylight as possible.

BTW it was Darth and his secret energy confab in 2001 who came up with the extra 2 months of DST. I'm sure it was for some evil Halliburtonesque agenda, but as much as I hate to say it, it's the one thing he ever did that I can actually appreciate.

[pnwmom]

62. I agree. I hate it when it gets dark so early. n/t

[anigbrowl]

73. Absurd...and I live in SF too

If you hate the fog then don't live in the west of the city, move east where it's much sunnier and warmer. I live on 31st avenue, I know all about the foggy 'summers'. But nobody forces you or me to live in this neighborhood, do they?

So it's going to get dark at 5:30, if you want more daylight get up earlier. I'm not a morning person myself so I probably won't, I'll just put up with dark evenings. If it bothers you that much take vitamin D supplements or get day-light spectrum light bulbs.

I would prefer to have one time the year round instead of this archaic forward-and-back business, but nobody makes you get up or go to sleep at particular times - today is only marginally shorter than yesterday in terms of the time between sunrise and sunset. Maybe waking up earlier than usual for that extra sunlight will make winter easier for you.

[adamuu]

50. I think we should all change to UTC with no DST or Summer Time adjustment n/t

[greenbriar]

51. DST is best

I hate getting dark at 5pm

[Jakey]

61. Given the choice of...

...either waking up to sunshine or going home from work in twilight, I'll take ol' sol in the morning everytime.

Waking up can be depressing enough as it is.

[pnwmom]

64. Me, too. And I don't care if it's still dark at 6 a.m. n/t

[shanti]

80. well, i do care

about waiting for a train in the dark with no one around at 6am....my body hates DST. i'm feeling very good today too!

YMMV

[Blue_In_AK]

52. Well, it makes no sense at all in Alaska

where in the summer we certainly don't need any more light, and in the winter it's going to be dark anyway.

[Odin2005]

55. YES! I hate DST because I get extremely stressed out if my routine changes.

Yes, even by an hour, us folks on the autism spectrum are like that. it takes me a month at least to get my brain back in sync with the actual time.

I'm dreading Monday. :(

DST makes no sense, anyway. Official Time should approximate local true solar time. That's the whole F-ing purpose of time zones.

[pnwmom]

58. What if we had DST all year around, as we did years ago? Sorry the adjustment

is so hard on you!

[Odin2005]

65. Why not just have standard time all the time?

Noon is when the sun is highest in the sky, as adjusted for time zone synchronization. DST makes no logical sense.

[pnwmom]

70. People can choose whether or not they want to be bound by that particular

logic or not. Many of us would choose to have more time with daylight available in the evening, rather than in the morning when we're still sleeping.

[Odin2005]

77. Then wake up earlier.

Short winter days suck, deal with it. I have SAD and use a UV light to keep my mood up. That's the price way pay as a species from migrating away from the tropics where we evolved.

[pnwmom]

78. You don't like the adjustment at the time change. I don't like the dark afternoons

of winter.

We all have to deal with things we don't like.

[shanti]

81. in the morning when we're sleeping?

ummm, no, some of us have to get up and go to work!

[Jakey]

71. Daylight SAVINGS is why

The idea is to transfer 1 hour of the spring/summer calendar's copious daylight into the normal waking hours for each time zone. Who needs sunlight when you're normally asleep?

[pnwmom]

76. I hate it in the spring when the sun comes blasting through the edges of

the blinds at 5:30!

[krabigirl]

60. Yes, at least in hot areas like Socal. More darkness, the better. Savings on cooling, etc.

[shanti]

79. yes!!!

my body loves standard time. i feel so good and refreshed at the moment and went to bed late too. it's going to be great to go to work in the light again at 6am!

booo on DST!

[Electric Monk]

84. Keep it to one or the other is what I want. Let's call time time again. nt

[TheKentuckian]

85. No, but abolishing "standard" time is way past due

Back it up a couple of hours even but at least get rid or substandard time because it just plain ole gets dark to early.

[cemaphonic]

87. I read a pretty interesting article about the history and spread of DST

In general, there is a pretty strong correlation between distance from the equator and use/approval of DST. I'm in Seattle (farther north than Fargo or northern Maine for you easterners), and I hate when we go *OFF* Daylight Savings Time.