With my title I've probably made at least 50% of my readers angry.
Changing time twice in a year always brings about discussion on both sides of the issue. Some of it heated. Most of the negative comments come in the spring when we spring forward and lose and hour of our sleep. We don't hear so much complaining in the fall when we get an extra hour to sleep in.
The comments I've heard this spring have more substance than just complaining. People are asking why do we change. People have been following blindly without thinking about the reason for time changes...if there is one. Why do we change time? Who started the time change ? When did it start? Here people blame the farmers for the change. Farmers are the biggest complainers about time change.
So now people are saying, "Do we really need to change time?" The next question is but which time should we stay on? The hour ahead or the standard time. This is really when the choices are divided. There are good reasons for staying on standard time for the whole year and good reasons for staying on daylight saving time. The the term daylight saving time is a stretch. We are not saving time. There's still 24 hours in the day.
Ask shift workers about the change twice a year.
One place I know. Saskatchewan, Stays on standard time all year and has done so for many years.
I would like to see us go in the middle of standard time and daylight saving time.
Anybody with me?
Me! Me! I'm with you :)
ReplyDeleteI did read one reason this year I'd never heard of before - apparently the time change helps provide more daylight hours for driving. But I'm thinking the dangers caused by tired drivers for the week after the spring change would completely wipe out the advantage of more daytime driving. And it sure wipes me out personally.
There are many studies on time change. One shows many more accidents the Monday after the change. Then after that there are less accidents?
DeleteMy interest in railroad history helped me learn a little bit about why we have Standard Time. In the US and Canada, the concept of Standard Time began in 1883. Before that towns and cities all over the place had their own time. Can you imagine how hard it was to come up with a schedule for the trains? So, they came up with the idea of saying that it was noon when the sun was straight overhead. Then, they divided the world into 24 zones. Then they said noon for that zone was when the sun was right overhead at the middle of the zone. This all seems pretty reasonable to me. Then, much later someone came along with the silly idea of Daylight Saving Time. There is no daylight to save but we can rock the clock and fool ourselves if we want to. It seems stupid to me and there is absolutely zero advantage to having more daylight in the evenings in northern latitudes in the summer when the days are long to start with. I vote for Standard Time year around!
ReplyDeleteCheck! I think it was a Canadian who came up with that idea. Before train schedules that kid of time didn't matter.
DeleteStandard time for me. It just doesn't make sense to go back and forth each year. It leaves you disoriented for days afterwards.
ReplyDeletePeople may not want to change time twice a year but then they can't decide which of the two they would like.
DeleteThere's no good reason for changing time in my humble opinion. Every year the changes cause a degree of confusion and stress. Also it is a pain having to change all one's timepieces. There's no reason for it.
ReplyDeleteNow you won't have to search too far and you would find studies that support the time changes. Some studies report fewer accidents!
DeleteIn Arizona they stay on Mountain Standard Time al year. I'd like it to be one or the other, but I don't get bent out of shape by the time change. I think I'd prefer Pacific Standard Time because I'm an early riser. :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't think any politician would dare come up with a change. He/she would have half the population angry with them
DeleteHi Red, that is an interesting thought to go in the middle of standard and daylight time! I always thought the time change was mainly for farmers to give them more daylight hours. To me it is not that much of a deal but if I had a choice I would rather go to standard time year round just to simplify things.
ReplyDeleteIt is a royal pain to change. I don't wear a watch. My watch is in a drawer, and I haven't changed the time for 20 years.
DeleteNo, I am not with you. Putting our hours on the international half hour would be way too confusing. I think we either keep split year time or just go back to standard time all of the time. Just keep it standardized across the country, so time zones can be calculated.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it should be standardized across the country.
DeleteI have not heard ANYONE who WANTS to go on time change!
ReplyDeleteYou're right. Nobody is out there campaigning for time change.
DeleteI'm with you. I'd like to see a time set and then left alone. Never to be changed again!
ReplyDeleteI'm hearing many people wanting no change.
DeleteI like extra sleep but this morning was no fun with less
ReplyDeleteYes, we like the spring change but not the fall.
DeleteJust leave standard time alone. That would be my choice. My complaint would be getting done with supper. We normally eat around 6:00 but last evening, that was really 5:00 so we ate supper at 7:00. That kept me in the kitchen until 8:00 washing dishes and cleaning up. Pretty silly, I know.
ReplyDeleteDaylight savings time just isn't needed anymore since we're no longer an agrarian society.
ReplyDeleteBut farmers are the biggest critics of day light saving time.
DeleteI'd like it to stay on standard time. How do we go about making that happen?
ReplyDeleteI don't think you'll see any politician touch this one.
ReplyDeleteI don't care which way it it just stop changing it!! It all makes me tired:)
ReplyDeletehow interesting that you raised question that used to spring in my mind since long .
ReplyDeleteit helps in winters though but in long hot summer it is irritating .
We don't have daylight saving here in Queensland and I hope the status quo remains. It was trialed back in 1989/90 and I hated it. I was living in Cairns, up in Far North Queensland at the time. It was just not needed. I hope we never go that way. Every year come summer the same old discussions arise...over and over again...but so far, thankfully, we've stood firm.
ReplyDeleteHawaii does not change their times, but my daughter in Chicago and son in Maryland do so it's sometimes hard to remember what time it is over there. They've also been known to wake me up in the morning.
ReplyDeleteWe changed the time yesterday and as you've mentioned, it's always worse in spring than in autumn. Biologically, you get up an hour earlier, until you adapt to the change. I would prefer keeping standard time, making no changes at all... We used to be told told that the change is because of savings in electricity and that the reasons are purely economic.
ReplyDelete