Daylight/Standard Time Changes--Bah, Humbug!

While laboring to change my watch to standard time on Saturday, I started wondering: Why do we bother about one hour? I personally would like to see an end to this clock-changing nonsense. It's especially annoying in the fall because you have to move digital watches and many digital clocks ahead 23 hours because they won't go backwards. Either stay on DST the whole year or on Standard Time the whole year. What's an hour? There is also a proposal floating around to put the entire USA in 2 time zones, although I suspect that poor old Hawaii and Alaska will still be off by themselves.

The energy savings of DST are non-existent, especially where residential air-conditioning is common (almost everywhere except in the Pacific NW west of the Cascades). Everyone turns on the AC when they get home from work, which on DST is still the hottest part of the day. In this day of automated thermostats, the AC goes on an hour before they get home, even worse.

I'm wondering if Verizon agrees with me. My cell phone is still on Daylight Time. It changed automatically in the past, but not this time.

Just think, if we stayed on the same time all year, we'd save 10 minutes in March and another 10 minutes in November adjusting our timepieces, and we wouldn't have to reset our biological clocks twice a year (which, for some of us, is a bit harder). Nor would we have our dogs barking to be fed an hour before feeding time starting the first Sunday of November!

So why do we go through this silly "fall back" routine for only 4 months of the year?

What do you think?

I'm with you on keeping it the same year round as long as we get the extra sunlight at the end of the day. Never minded going to work in the dark but hard to get things done after work when it gets dark so early.

Asking why the powers to be hang on to these practices is akin to why airlines board planes from the front to the back. It makes no sense but its the old "it was good enough for us" mentality.

jimmyb

Once we go back to Standard Time it would create far less ill will if the time to set the clocks one hour forward was 4pm on Friday.

One nice thing about Arizona is that (other than the Navajo Reservation) it is on Mountain Standard Time year around. The only time I need to worry about Standard vs Daylight is when I am traveling.

Did anyone even bother to ask Daylight if she wanted to be saved?

Now that DST stretches across more than 7 months and Standard Time operates for less than 5 months, I vote we change the name of DST to Standard Time and change the name of Standard Time to DST (Daylight Squandering Time).

Actually we are now on "Standard" time only 4 months of the year. (November, December, January, February). Why not just stay on Daylight time year around (since everyone likes that extra hour in the evening)?

I was tempted not to change my timepieces Saturday (my wristwatch is a major project), but the thought of forgetting I was an hour fast and arriving at church and dental appointments an hour early threw me off. Maybe I won't change them next fall and see what happens! That of course won't work for you non-retired folks!

During the 8 years that at least one of my children was living in Europe, the dates of their time change was always different from ours and calculating when to call, at a time when they'd be home but not in bed, was a major undertaking.

You got that Perry. I hate to change the clock this time of the year as it means I don't get home on Friday now until after dark.
Duane

I vote to stay on the daylight savings time as well. Stupid idea to change clocks - really aggravates my husbands insomnia issues. Makes even less sense up here - though the reasoning they use is trying to stay on track with most of the lower 48. (1 hour off rather than being 2 hours off for part of the year.)

Totally agree! This year it has been double hard because I am caring for my disabled granddaughter for the winter. Brings back all those memories of how hard time change is on little ones who do not read a clock! Their only clock is the one inside their head or stomach! "Fall back" means an hour of whining waiting before each meal and waking me up an hour before I need to get up! I started the transition a week before and we still are not there.

I think that most folks would go along with the change if there was a good reason for it. We no longer light with candles or get up to milk the cows. For the most part we are in an artificial environment with lights and heat or cooling all the time. The only folks who benefit are the folks who own golf courses. While backpacking I get up and go to bed by the sun or by my mood no matter what the clock says.

The only reason I can think of that makes any sense is that kids are not standing outside in the dark waiting for their school bus. Of course, it doesn't matter what time a clock says for that, but this is what I've always thought was the "logic" behind it.