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US House of Representatives takes step to make daylight saving time permanent

bbc.com

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Re: US House of Representatives takes step to make daylight saving time permanent

#21
post #8

Am I the only person who thinks its odd that my government (US) thinks its can tell me what time to get up and go to bed? Before timezones, "noon" was the point where the sun was the highest in the sky. It seems we should focus on having our timezones be more in line with what "noon" is supposed to be: IE, major population centers should have "noon" close to true noon, with a little more flexibility for rural areas s…

Ideal and impractical. Even with modern wifi.

Why not have your own timezone based on where you are standing right now? Oh, right, because that's the opposite of universal (or at least worldwide).

One-hour shifts are manageable. One-minute shifts between population centers are not. Your meeting would start at precisely 8:03:38, your time. The business you are calling would close its doors 13 minutes before 5 pm.

Re: US House of Representatives takes step to make daylight saving time permanent

#22
post #11
post #8

Am I the only person who thinks its odd that my government (US) thinks its can tell me what time to get up and go to bed? Before timezones, "noon" was the point where the sun was the highest in the sky. It seems we should focus on having our timezones be more in line with what "noon" is supposed to be: IE, major population centers should have "noon" close to true noon, with a little more flexibility for rural areas s…

Or have a universal clock. But have regional start times. 9-5 makes no sense.

9-5 is a red herring for this topic - but why does it make no sense to you?

Re: US House of Representatives takes step to make daylight saving time permanent

#24

Perhaps worth noting that most medical and sleep/circadian research folks want permanent standard time: * https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-cal... * https://www.labmanager.com/new-position-statement-supports-p... * http://www.chronobiology.ch/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/JBR-D... * https://www.chronobiology.com/impact-daylight-saving-time-ci... * https://esrs.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/To_the_…

I think that the gallup poll is flawed because it does not explain what daylight saving versus standard time is. I just spoke to an educated grad student, who thought that we were in standard time right now. Because the sun is out later during daylight saving time, the name is somewhat counter-intuitive. Also, because it’s on for most of the year, DST feels “standard.”

I've definitely talked to people that though daylight savings time is the time used in the winter, since that's when there are the fewest daylight hours and you need to "save" them or something.

Re: US House of Representatives takes step to make daylight saving time permanent

#26
post #8

Am I the only person who thinks its odd that my government (US) thinks its can tell me what time to get up and go to bed? Before timezones, "noon" was the point where the sun was the highest in the sky. It seems we should focus on having our timezones be more in line with what "noon" is supposed to be: IE, major population centers should have "noon" close to true noon, with a little more flexibility for rural areas s…

This is a great question, and theres alot of history there, this is how time used to work until travel and communication speeds necessitating coordination over larger areas required it. The biggest driver in North America? Railroads.

Great documentary on the history of human relationship with time is available here: https://www.pbs.org/video/pbs-indies-time-1/

Re: US House of Representatives takes step to make daylight saving time permanent

#27
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the medium term wouldn't it likely not matter? Schedules will adjust to whatever permanent time system is adopted.

I doubt it. People seem to have a strong aversion to sleeping before sunset.

How would permanent DST matter in that regard? Are people going to bed at like 4 pm in the winter and now upset they'd have to wait until 5? DST is already used in the summer (and 3/4 of the year).

Re: US House of Representatives takes step to make daylight saving time permanent

#29
post #8

Am I the only person who thinks its odd that my government (US) thinks its can tell me what time to get up and go to bed? Before timezones, "noon" was the point where the sun was the highest in the sky. It seems we should focus on having our timezones be more in line with what "noon" is supposed to be: IE, major population centers should have "noon" close to true noon, with a little more flexibility for rural areas s…

Technically no. Work and School dictate when we get up and go to bed. It's all relative. We could create a timezone where 12:00PM is in the morning. We are just used to this idea that morning, afternoon, evening, and night need to correspond to specific time values. For example, China uses just one timezone. So local regions just adapt to what logically makes sense. In a perfect world, local regions would adapt to the amount of daylight we have for each season, like it was before timekeeping and timezones. So school and work would shift when they start based off the rising of the sun. This isn't practical though for multiple reasons. It would cause chaos and confusion for work shifts, scheduling etc.

Re: US House of Representatives takes step to make daylight saving time permanent

#30

Perhaps worth noting that most medical and sleep/circadian research folks want permanent standard time: * https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-cal... * https://www.labmanager.com/new-position-statement-supports-p... * http://www.chronobiology.ch/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/JBR-D... * https://www.chronobiology.com/impact-daylight-saving-time-ci... * https://esrs.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/To_the_…

I think that the gallup poll is flawed because it does not explain what daylight saving versus standard time is. I just spoke to an educated grad student, who thought that we were in standard time right now. Because the sun is out later during daylight saving time, the name is somewhat counter-intuitive. Also, because it’s on for most of the year, DST feels “standard.”

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