The Atlantic: Time to Kill Daylight Saving

[LiberalElite]

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/03/time-to-kill-daylight-saving/387175/

-snip-
As most people no doubt noticed given that they were robbed of an hour of sleep, Sunday marked the beginning of Daylight Saving Time in the United States, Canada, and several other countries and territories in North America. For morning people, Daylight Saving is a drag, depriving them of an hour of tranquil morning light. But for others, "spring forward" brings with it the promise of long, languid afternoons and warmer weather.

Like millions of other Americans who have slogged through an uncomfortably cold winter, I'm looking forward to the change of season. But Daylight Saving Time is an annual tradition whose time has passed. In contemporary society, it's not only unnecessary: It's also wasteful, cruel, and dangerous. And it's long past time to bid it goodbye.
-snip-

[liberal N proud]

1. Personally, I enjoy the extra daylight in the evening.

I start my job @6:30 in the AM. My work day usually goes until 4:30 PM. When it is light at the end of the day, I have a chance to get my yard mowed in one day, not two (I have a very large yard).

[LiberalElite]

3. I like it too but losing that hour

does affect me. I think it's an empty feel good exercise. When I was a child I thought it meant I'd get out of school an hour early NOOOOO. I was still stuck there from 9 to 3. DST was started in what, 1918? How many more electronic gadgets do we have now that were never even dreamed of then? Air conditioners, TVs, COMPUTERS, microwaves, computer games, refrigerators. The days get longer beginning Dec. 21 and shorter beginning June 21 no matter how much we play with the clock.

[liberal N proud]

23. Losing an hour is a myth

It is an adjustment of clocks. The hour is still there and in the fall when it is no longer possible to preserve usable evening daylight, the clock 7 adjusted back. It is done on the weekend so people have time to adjust.

Have you ever traveled across time zones? The time shift is no different than traveling one time zone. Traveling 3 time zones would have more, but not substantial effect on the body's clock.

I travel from eastern time zone to pacific time zone and back occasionally with no effect. Travelers to Singapore which is 12 hours different is a fairly drastic change but if handled correctly, impact can be minimized.

[kcr]

72. There is a difference between traveling

which is usually a one time occurrence over a day, and an entire region adjusting their clocks and everyone shifting daily operations by one hour. I've done both and the effect isn't quite the same.

[liberal N proud]

75. Bunk, the effect is a personal one and not regional either way.

[kcr]

82. Bunk! What, because you disagree?

Is it irrelevant that in once case nothing else has changed but in the other an entire region has? You decide to merely wave your hand at those changes and that automatically makes it bunk? That's an interesting way to form an opinion.

Some people are affected by the world around them. It's true!

[itsrobert]

29. So start it at 5:30 am an workk until 3:30pm

Why screw others for your benefit?

[liberal N proud]

74. Can anyone say fart in a spacesuit?

I will tell my boss that I am coming in an hour early and leaving an hour early!

[C Moon]

59. I like the extra darkness in the morning. :)

Sun up at 5am in August would be too much.
I wish we could just keep DST in tact all year round.

[we can do it]

2. I think DST should remain on all year. I hate the gloom.

[LiberalElite]

4. There will be gloom anyway in the winter nt

[we can do it]

9. That's a given, but it would be nice to have a little more light late in the day.

[pnwmom]

22. But there's a huge difference in getting dark here at 4:15 pm

as opposed to 5:15.

I loved yearlong DST.

[C Moon]

60. That's what I'd vote for.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

62. Yes! I love DST!

[RiverLover]

84. +1

Very much agree!!

[Logical]

5. I want more light in the evening. So what ever that takes to do it I am in favor of it.

[Skittles]

6. love the yearly whining about "losing an hour of sleep"

are people really that fragile?

[Owl]

8. My thoughts exactly.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

63. I know, right. One hour. One day of the year.

Jeez.

[HappyMe]

77. lol! So true.

It's a dramatic tragedy every year.

[alarimer]

78. Well, kind of, actually.

There are a lot of known health effects from this switch. There is a spike in heart attacks, for one thing, according to the American Journal of Cardiology and a decrease when we "fall back."

http://www.businessinsider.com/health-effects-of-daylight-saving-time-2014-10

[kcr]

83. Bunk! Science, schmience!

Actually, I agree, just getting in my daily allowance of snark

[CBGLuthier]

80. Well, you know, science, remember SCIENCE, instead of feelings and opinions, but SCIENTISTS

have done studies that find increased risk of heart attacks and traffic accidents caused by the time changes, but I am sure that SCIENCE quakes in fear of everyone's opinion that people are fragile or that they just like more light at night.

Or without so much snark, yes people are really that fragile. Our bodies have rhythms and disrupting those rhythms will always have consequences.

[Skittles]

89. I am guessing they are seriously out of shape

and cannot handle much of anything "different"

[RobinA]

85. It Seems

to get worse every year.

[Warpy]

7. No, stupid, it's time to kill "standard" time that only lasts 4 months a year

(stupid being the author and the Atlantic for publishing him)

DST year round makes a hell of a lot more sense in the winter, especially.

Poor Matt is apparently deluded by the name "standard." That standard is completely arbitrary and doesn't work, much like phlogiston. Time to let it go.

[enlightenment]

12. Warpy,

I'm not going to argue about going to one time (and I frankly don't care which one) - but I will debate the term arbitrary.

DST is as arbitrary as standard time - hell, we could change the whole thing and make hours last 30 minutes . . . or 90 . . . or whatever. It's ALL completely arbitrary!

[FLPanhandle]

15. +1

Just keep DST year around.

[jimlup]

24. You speak as someone who lives just to the West of a time zone

As someone who lives just east of the Central time line - DST makes an already awkward clock time even more awkward. By geography we should be in Central time but for obvious economic reasons we are not. I oppose DST but will conceed that by June or so it might be somewhat useful. But really only about 4 months are worth DST.

Perhaps we should advocate a "national time" Some have argued that this would be the best modern solution.

[penndragon69]

32. Return Indiana to CENTRAL time,

it is after all, the NATURAL time zone.
Then kill this stupidity of DST completely.

[jimlup]

48. +1

Absolutely!

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

64. Thank you. As if humans didn't invent the assignment of the hours.

I wonder if this guy is still mad about the change to the Gregorian calendar from the Julian.

[kcr]

73. I wish they'd just pick a frigging time and stick to it

I'd pick DST though, for sure.

[killbotfactory]

10. Please kill it

I have enough crap disrupting my sleep as it is.

Just open your business or start farming earlier if you like it. Leave me out of it.

[Terra Alta]

11. I'd rather have Daylight Saving year-round.

I don't like it in the winter months when it gets dark at friggin' 5 o'clock. "Standard" Time needs to go.

[SoCalNative]

65. Try living in Europe

where in the winter it is dark until 9AM or later and gets dark by 4PM during the worst winter months. The payoff to DST is that in the summer it stays light here until almost 10:30PM, so you actually feel like you have an evening to enjoy after you get out of work.

[rurallib]

13. Not a fan of DST at all

but the reasons it has been imposed at the ridiculous times of the year - early March to early November - are what really piss me off.

Early March so southerners will barbecue more thanks to a little "persuasion" from the barbecue industry. And early November so candy makers can sell more Halloween candy

Fuck 'em. Pick one or another and then leave it the fuck alone.

[Egnever]

17. You dont seriously believe that is what got it started do you?

[rurallib]

68. no - that is its latest iteration

no I have heard of Ben Franklin etc.
but its current configuration is due to "campaign contributions" by certain industries

[shenmue]

14. I like sleep

Don't mess with my naps.

[CatWoman]

19. word

[lordsummerisle]

16. There is lots of evidence

that the switchover is disruptive, including loss of productivity and health issues including an increase of heart attacks. Pick one, daylight savings or standard and stick with it.

[Major Nikon]

18. My vote is to set all clocks to UTC

[niyad]

20. k and r

and I HATE the expression "an extra hour of daylight" there is NO "extra hour of daylight",

human beings cannot create an extra hour of daylight.

[tclambert]

45. Extra hour of daylight? Global warming, people!

No wonder the ice caps are melting.

Maybe we can terraform Mars if we just institute triple daylight saving time.

[thesquanderer]

55. The "extra hour of daylight"...

...refers to taking an hour of daylight away from the very early morning when most people are sleeping, and putting it in the early evening instead, when people can ostensibly enjoy it.

By the time we get to June, here in NY, sunrise will be about 5:30 am. Without DST, sunrise would be at 4:30 am. So we steal that "useless" hour of morning sunlight, and get to have sunset at 8:30 pm instead of 7:30 pm, there's the "extra" hour of (useful) sunlight.

The way to keep that, and avoid clock shifts, is to use DST all year, though that does have the downside that sunrise in January would be 8:20 am instead of 7:20 am, which, among other things, means that lots of kids have to walk to school or wait for their buses in the dark.

[pnwmom]

21. Time to kill "Standard Time." I much prefer DST.

I wasn't robbed of an hour of sleep. I was given an extra hour in the evening to take our dog on a nice, long walk.

I don't need sun at 5:30 a.m. Or even at 6:30 am. I much prefer it after work.

[penndragon69]

34. But with DST,

Your children will stand out in the dark waiting for
the bus, and waiting to be hit by cars that cannot see them IN THE DARK !

[pnwmom]

42. Not here. The elementary schools don't start till 9,

and middle schools around 8.

The high school students can manage to wait in the dark for a bit, if they have to.

[NutmegYankee]

47. They still do on EST.

I drive by them in the dark on the way to work.

[Warren DeMontague]

70. I hear tell that if you set your clocks to DMT

you will see that time is but an arbitrary illusion.

[colsohlibgal]

25. John Oliver Went After This Hard Yesterday

There is no real reason to have it, we should do away with it, it is a pain to change the time on your microwave, car, alarm, etc.

[chillfactor]

26. lack of morning daylight is not a problem for me...

I LOVE the longer evenings in daylight...I hate it when we go back to standard time...

[penndragon69]

35. Tell that to the children

who DIE every year waiting for a bus or walking
to school IN THE DARK.

[NutmegYankee]

49. If all you have left is a "Lovejoy", your cause is lost

[TheKentuckian]

27. Hell with that, standard is the one that needs to go.

Take operation sleepy bummer time and kick it into the deepest nearby hole you can find.

[Matariki]

28. People say that today, sure

But months of after work sunlight will cure the sad.

[Binkie The Clown]

30. Irrelevant

Being retired means I don't have to care what the clock says. I go to bed "an hour later" and get up "an hour later" in the morning after I change the clocks. My circadian rhythm remains unchanged, so I will abstain from voting on this one.

[Matariki]

31. I bet this really comes down to Morning People vs Night Owls

I'm Team Night Owl.

Of course, as always, Team Early Bird is up fucking us all before we've had enough coffee to even form a cohesive sentence.

[Skittles]

43. dayshift sucks

seriously, f*** them

[laundry_queen]

57. I don't know

I'm a night owl, but unfortunately, I have an office job that means I wake up at the crack of dawn. From September to March I'm getting up in the dark and it's impossible. So impossible that I have to sit with blue florescent lights pointed at my face for 15 min every morning just to function. It pisses me off that I was just starting to get up with the sun when the clocks changed again, now I'm getting up in the dark. Again. ugh! Either way, I don't know why they bother where I live - in the summer it's light out till 11pm and there is light from the sun at 4 am. So, in the end, it doesn't make a big difference anyway. I've lived where it stayed the same time year round and I loved it! So much less stressful. The time change is truly pointless.

[SheilaT]

33. Here in New Mexico there's this sudden

desire to stay on DST year round. Clearly, those advocating it haven't given thought to the fact that in the middle of winter the sun won't rise until 8:30.

I enjoy the change in time. I just wish it would go back to end of April, end of October.

Me, I'm not going to be a morning person no matter what the clock reads. I sleep until well past sunrise: 9am, 10am, often later. I do lose patience with the virtuous early morning people. Good for you if you wake up early and go to bed early, just be grateful that others are out there making sure things are happening the rest of the day.

[brooklynite]

36. No: time to make DST permanent...

I want it dark in the morning when I'm sleeping. I want it light in the evening when I'm awake.

[Mugu]

67. Hear, hear! n/t

[giftedgirl77]

37. Didn't even know it happened....

Just thought the power went out for a bit & that's why all the clocks were wrong in my house.

[seveneyes]

38. To those that dance in the night, the day dances without you

"When I've worn a hole, in my last pair of shoes
Oh but someday, baby, I ain't gonna worry my life any more"

[Skittles]

41. so much nicer not dancing with the herd

yes indeed

[seveneyes]

44. I kick my own butt for not learning it sooner

[ErikJ]

39. Standard time yr round would be healthiest

The ideal time to go to bed is 10 pm and getting up by 6 am. Just a biological fact. If the sun is extended an hr in the summer it makes getting to bed at 10 that much harder.

[RobinA]

86. Nonsense

My body knows nothing about 10:00. It only knows when it wants to sleep and when it wants to wake and it's based on daylight, like every other animal.

[ErikJ]

88. 10 pm to 6 am IS based on daylight.

I suppose it would have to be 11 pm to 7 am on DST tho. 10 to 6am is based on sleep research. The optimal hours.

[tavernier]

40. I don't care...

Just find one time and stick to it.

Please!!!

[Retrograde]

50. Here! Here! (or Hear! Hear!)

I live at ~37 deg N, where the difference in day length is less than 5 hours over the years, so it's not as big a deal as it is in more northerly regions, but it's a pain to switch twice a year.

[SoapBox]

51. +1 bazzilion!

Call it whatever...just stop with the fucking change!

Leave it the hell alone!!!

[tclambert]

46. Don't blame the farmers. According to John Oliver, Kaiser Wilhelm first put DST into effect.

Somehow they calculated it would save coal.

[hunter]

52. It's time to kill clocks.

Or maybe less radically, cut the "standard" forty hour workweek to thirty five and radically increase minimum wages.

Instead of springing ahead or falling back, leave the clocks on standard time and quit work an hour earlier all year long.

[oldandhappy]

53. get rid of standard time, keep daylight time.

[Mosby]

54. Us Arizonans have been saying this since the beginning.

You're not getting more light anyway, so what's the point?

[svpadgham]

56. I don't get the people complaining about standard time.

Personally, I like for it to be dark when I decide to go to bed. I hate it when it's still light out at almost 9 pm. I also like to wake up to natural changes in lighting.

[trackfan]

58. DST is pure folly.

People on the Left and Right will complain endlessly about how much they hate big government. Yet virtually 100% of the population will willingly acquiesce to having the government tell them it is noon when it is really an hour before noon. If you live anywhere in the vicinity of a rooster (that's a cock for you Brits - we're too babyish for that word in America), you know what folly DST is.

[Jamaal510]

61. Let's just keep the time the same one way or the other. eom

[MissMarple]

66. It is time to end this.

The time "saved" is all illusion. It's just a stupid response to problems solved by better means. It's not like we are changing the revolution of the earth. Just change the times we go to work. It"ll be fine.

[romanic]

69. I think it's pointless.

But I don't mind the time changes.

[Warren DeMontague]

71. I enjoy it!

Actually, I don't enjoy it, but I do enjoy the yearly crankiness that accompanies it. Now the Atlantic is getting in on the act, which is even more fun.

What does Matt Schiavenza actually think is going to happen? The government is going to change this shit? Really? The government can't agree on anything. Who is going to propose this? The Atlantic? Oh, great, that'll work. Remember what happened with the metric system? how long before Michelle Bachmann starts warning that teh Liberal Commies want to take away our "Freedom Hour"?. "You know, Daylight Savings Time was brought to these shining shores by JESUS HIMSELF, right after he signed the declaration of independence". etc etc

I know it pisses some people off, but - and again, I think some of this is peculiar to DU's crotchety, cranky demographics - everything that pisses people off is not going to go away. DST is pretty hard-baked into everyone's routines at this point. I know, it can be a pain, but it's one hour. An extra one to sleep in in the fall that you pay for again in the spring.

I wouldn't hold my breath on anyone getting rid of it any time soon.

[Romulox]

76. So much whining about DST! Deal with it. nt

[FSogol]

79. Seriously, Next DST change, I'll be sure to post: Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Whinning!

[pnwest]

81. Native American point of view...

When told the reason for daylight saving time the old Indian said…
‘Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket.’

[KamaAina]

87. Hawai'i does just fine without it

Just sayin'.