Live data from Hacker News

US Senate votes unanimously to make daylight savings time permanent

twitter.com

381–390 of 1001 posts

Re: US Senate votes unanimously to make daylight savings time permanent

#381

Can someone explain why they actually care about this? I always see such strong opinions on it but really, why does it matter to you? Most clocks are digital and change automatically these days and otherwise changing your clocks twice a year is such a minor inconvenience. And whether or not the light should be preferred in the morning or vending is probably a pretty even split. Maybe it’s better to get rid of it (I d…

I like doing things outside after work, while in the morning I'm always inside working or getting ready for work. Having an extra hour of daylight is a huge QoL improvement for evening activities.

Re: US Senate votes unanimously to make daylight savings time permanent

#382

Watching Americans freak out about post-8AM sunrises is surreal to me. The sun doesn't rise until 8:45 during the darkest times of the year here in the Netherlands and its really not much of an issue. Whether standard time or summer time is the better choice here is something I hold no opinion on, but the sheer hysteria some people here express is very overblown.

Wasn't there a study or two that living on the western edge of a time zone poses higher health risks, presumably because people have to get up before sunrise to get to work.

This why I, personally, would prefer standard time over DST. I really hate early mornings, and DST causes all mornings to be one hour earlier.

EDIT: Googled a quick link about this: https://www.sciencealert.com/a-neurologist-explains-why-dayl...

Re: US Senate votes unanimously to make daylight savings time permanent

#383

We did this before, about 50 years ago. Going in, close to 80% of people supported permanent Daylight Saving Time. After experiencing a single winter, that dropped to close to 40%, and it was repealed. Looks like we may be doomed to repeat the experience. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_time_observation_in_...

Well you know what they say..

"Those who study history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everyone else repeats it"?

Re: US Senate votes unanimously to make daylight savings time permanent

#385

Such a terrible idea compared to permanent standard time. There is plenty of light during the summer, so there's no need to optimize for that. The winter is when daylight is scarce, so that's what should be optimized for.

I think I speak on behalf of most computer people when I say this: we prefer our extra hour of sunshine in the evenings not mornings.

Speak for yourself, you certainly don't speak on my behalf.

Re: US Senate votes unanimously to make daylight savings time permanent

#387

As long as they eliminate the constant inane switching back and forth. Sleep disruption is harmful in many ways and all this practice seems to actually do, old wives' tales about farmers and circumstantial localized benefits aside, is induce it. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5449130/

The point of that 'switching back and forth' between standard time and DST is to let the clock approximate a constant time for dawn, which in turn should lead to the most efficient use of daylight. Permanent DST just ensures very dark mornings around the Winter Solstice period - December and January especially, Nov and Feb to a lesser extent - which in turn means more stress (since it's a lot harder to wake up with n…

We have artificial lighting now and the older method just means more car accidents as people commute to home after work.

Re: US Senate votes unanimously to make daylight savings time permanent

#388

Watching Americans freak out about post-8AM sunrises is surreal to me. The sun doesn't rise until 8:45 during the darkest times of the year here in the Netherlands and its really not much of an issue. Whether standard time or summer time is the better choice here is something I hold no opinion on, but the sheer hysteria some people here express is very overblown.

I guess you're used to it. Making that change for people who were born and raised in early morning sun will probably not be good for them.

Re: US Senate votes unanimously to make daylight savings time permanent

#389

We did this before, about 50 years ago. Going in, close to 80% of people supported permanent Daylight Saving Time. After experiencing a single winter, that dropped to close to 40%, and it was repealed. Looks like we may be doomed to repeat the experience. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_time_observation_in_...

I wonder if our interconnected world will make this different. I’m guessing people are more adversely affected by DST than previously.

Also from your link:

> In the state of Florida alone, at least six school children were killed by motorists due to the dark mornings created by the new law.

I wonder how in the world they attributed that to DST?

Re: US Senate votes unanimously to make daylight savings time permanent

#390

As long as they eliminate the constant inane switching back and forth. Sleep disruption is harmful in many ways and all this practice seems to actually do, old wives' tales about farmers and circumstantial localized benefits aside, is induce it. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5449130/

The point of that 'switching back and forth' between standard time and DST is to let the clock approximate a constant time for dawn, which in turn should lead to the most efficient use of daylight. Permanent DST just ensures very dark mornings around the Winter Solstice period - December and January especially, Nov and Feb to a lesser extent - which in turn means more stress (since it's a lot harder to wake up with n…

> since it's a lot harder to wake up with no natural light

In much of the world, and presumably some parts of the USA, people wake up in the dark just fine. Yet everyone in the USA has to deal with daylight savings time.

It's fall where I am, we are still on daylight savings for another few weeks, and I woke up just fine in the dark at 7:30am this morning.

Post reply on HN