Daylight Savings....what's the point?

Most of the world does not observe DST anymore. For some reason it's still very much present in North America and Europe however. Interestingly, in Canada, the province of Saskatchewan has not observed DST since the mid '60s (and it's very much farmland there).

I would obviously much prefer if there was no DST (we get a huge sense of freedom in the spring when clocks turn back, so it would be much better not to have to endure DST when you know that there is really no point for it.

If I was a politician, I would start discussing the topic when I want people/press to move on to something else. Everybody has an opinion on DST.

It shouldn't be that hard to change, especially for the provinces/states/country, which neighbors an area which already doesn't follow DST (such as Saskatchewan, Arizona...).

We turn closcks forward in the spring, not back.

a one hour time changes messes you up so bad? productivity is going to go down. that is laughable. i agree with your premise that DST has no value but your reasoning is crazy

DST is absolutely retarded.

So glad I now live in a country that doesn't entertain such foolishness.

Really, no value. How about not using as much energy (electricity) during daylight savings time? How about having daylight when kids go to school in the morning? Even my dogs adjust in a day or two to the change in time, so why can't you?

Uh, you do realize that DST just ENDED, don't you? We're on standard time now.

I like DST better than standard time. Most people are inside in the morning anyway. I'd rather have an extra hour of daylight in the evening.

DST should be year round.

The problem with kids going to school is the dark is easily fixed by adjusting school to start one hour later from Nov until early February.

Early February is all you need to wait until for the amount of daylight to be the same as it was on the last day of DST.

Farmers will always go with by their own clock. Whether someone tells them it is 5 am or 6 am doesn't matter. Crops and animals rule their time.

Almost everyone else likes having a bit of sunshine when they go home. Going home in the dark is kind of depressing.

cowboybob wrote:

How about not using as much energy (electricity) during daylight savings time?

How about it indeed. Scads of contradictory studies have been done showing results one way or the other. Studies of California estimate no benefit. Billing data from Indiana suggests energy consumption increased when DST was adopted.

How about having daylight when kids go to school in the morning?

This is an argument for staying on standard time year round. Or for just starting school sometime after sunrise. One-hour time shifts for everyone are not needed to accomplish this.

Even my dogs adjust in a day or two to the change in time, so why can't you?

We can, but there's no point. It's useless.

cant believe no on has pointed this one out yet; we get an extra hour of sleep, is that not enough? and when we "lose" that hour, we really just sleep the same amount.

cowboybob wrote:

Really, no value. How about not using as much energy (electricity) during daylight savings time? How about having daylight when kids go to school in the morning? Even my dogs adjust in a day or two to the change in time, so why can't you?

They don't have daylight anyway. I really hate this argument. The sun isn't up before school with or without daylight savings time. But my psychic well-being needs light after work. Without DST, we go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. With DST, at least there is light after work.

Why don't they call it Nighttime spending time?

Here's another reason to get rid of DST: An Australian study showed that suicides increase immediately after the springtime change to DST.

I have always despised and loathed the changing of the clocks for DST, but now that I have two young children, I hate it even more. Try explaining DST to two children. Good luck with that one.

I'm considering moving to Arizona or Hawaii (or possibly Australia) just to escape this nonsense.

DST is great to have extra dayight at the end of the day most of the year.

But come November, the sun just takes too long to come up in the morning so we have to turn it back for a few months.

It's harder to wake up in the dark. It has been noted that school kids are trying to go to school and catch buses.

Grown ups are getting on buses too and commuting in the dark.

It's harder to get going in the morning when it is dark.

Easier to go home in the dark.

And people use more electricity in the dark mornings.

They will still pretty much spend the eveing in the dark whether the clocks are turned back or not.

This thread comes up every fall. But not too many complaints in the spring.

toro wrote:

DST is great to have extra dayight at the end of the day most of the year.

But come November, the sun just takes too long to come up in the morning so we have to turn it back for a few months.

It's harder to wake up in the dark. It has been noted that school kids are trying to go to school and catch buses.

Grown ups are getting on buses too and commuting in the dark.

It's harder to get going in the morning when it is dark.

Easier to go home in the dark.

And people use more electricity in the dark mornings.

They will still pretty much spend the eveing in the dark whether the clocks are turned back or not.

This thread comes up every fall. But not too many complaints in the spring.

Wouldn't a better solution be to start school/work 1 hour later? For example, you could be open 9-6 in winter and 8-5 in summer.

really? really? wrote:

a one hour time changes messes you up so bad? productivity is going to go down. that is laughable. i agree with your premise that DST has no value but your reasoning is crazy

Car accidents were down 30% the 3 days blackberry was down a couple of weeks ago...so yes, I bet you can blame a few car accidents or production being down due to people being tired due DST. I couldn't watch Dexter last night because I was too tired and it was due to the time change, nothing else.

Does The Earts spin faster when there are only 23 hours in a day?

If you get off work at 5 then you have to do the afternoon run in the dark in the winter. That sucks.

Actually, farmers have never liked DST because they have to get up based on the sun anyway, and it's just a pointless inconvenience to them.

The theory is that with DST urban workers who work by the clock get more sunlight after 5:00, so they can spend more time outdoors (planting Victory Gardens during WWII, mowing the lawn, or whatever). The theory is also that people consume less energy with DST because they use less artificial lighting in the evening (very questionable if you ask me).

Also, supposedly when the US moved DST until November it was partly because the candy lobbyist thought that moving DST until after Halloween would give small children more daylight for trick or treating and increase candy sales.