The agony of daylight saving time

[Dennis]

Up before dawn?
Pets confused?
Love DST? Hate it?
Year round DST?
Do away with it?
It is time! Mount your soapbox and rant! :yawn:

Finally, my watch is correct again. I never change it. One of the kids changed the clock in my car and caused a little confusion for a while.

 

[Hazel]

I hate it! (Well, except for in the fall when we gain an hour. ) I understand the original reasoning for DST but is it really applicable anymore?

 

[Susie]

Up since 2:30am. No idea why. Can't go back to sleep. Made working prototype of a water bottle carrier that can hook to a purse or backpack for travelers. Made a batch of liquid laundry soap. Waiting for daylight to go plant my herb transplants and the tomato plant before church. I should be good and tired by bedtime if I keep this pace up.

I am not sure why time change does this to me every single time, but it does.

 

[Dennis]

A quick search found the following myths.

"So why do we stick with daylight saving time? Does it have to do with the farmers? With energy conservation? Maybe Benjamin Franklin? Read on for the four most common myths.

Myth 1: Daylight saving time was established to help the farmers.

In fact, it’s the exact opposite, according to a history of daylight saving time by National Geographic. The farmers vociferously lobbied against it because it left them with an hour less sunlight to get their crops to market. They effectively blocked daylight saving time until 1966, when their lobby power shrunk and President Johnson signed it into law.

Myth 2: It helps us conserve energy.

Again, the opposite. Perhaps this notion has something to do with World War I, when daylight saving time was temporarily instituted to save on coal for the war effort. But a 2008 study found that what it really does is hike our air conditioning bills (that extra warm hour of sunlight) and increase our gasoline usage (hey! it’s still light out, let’s go to the mall!). Plus, because the mornings are darker, we’re turning on more lights.

Myth 3: It was Benjamin Franklin’s idea.

He may have mused about it in 1784 while he was in Paris, suggesting that we rise earlier to make use of the morning sunshine to get things done and save on candles, but you can blame (or praise) William Willett, a British builder, who proposed the idea of British Summer Time in 1905. A bill was introduced in Parliament but, ironically, it was the farmers who opposed it. It became law after Willett died in 1915.

Myth 4: It’s entrenched. We can’t change it now.

Sure we can — we can make it even longer. After all, in 2007 the government extended daylight saving time by a month, thanks to the lobbying efforts of the industries that profit from sunlit evenings, including golf, grills, patios and recreational facilities like outdoor water parks. Those who can’t seem to get it changed are parent and school groups who don’t want kids waiting for the morning bus in the dark. Arizona and Hawaii also don’t follow it, for obvious reasons. Why would they need an extra hour of sunlight?"

 

[neeners]

where I live, time doesn't change, but I like when DST starts b/c now I'm on the same time zone as most of my friends, and the west coast doesn't seem so far behind anymore. but I do remember it used to be terrible to have to spring forward. I'd be so tired for days after...

 

[roseb]

I love DST. The sun goes down so early during standard time, and my energy level goes down with it. I seem to get so much more done during DST. Thanks for the history lesson Dennis!

 

[Ruthie]

I would prefer DST all year round if I were making the decision- which I am not. But I LOATHE the change- either way it goes, more than the time in either scenario. Each time it takes me at least a week to feel human again. (And working with 4 year olds, one NEEDS to feel human!)

 

[Lolly58]

Can't stand it!! Would rather it had stayed the way it was. Light in the morning, dark at night.

 

[lpstephy85]

I like it just because being in Ohio it is one of those things (besides seeing the Herons come back, buds appearing on trees, etc.) that tells me this crappy, cold weather has an end very soon! Also, I work until 6:30 so when I get off work now I can have some daylight.

 

[new12soap]

I detest daylight stupid time with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. I HAAAAAAAAAAATE it.

Yes, my pets are confused, yes my kids have trouble, yes it screws up medication times, yes we all feel tired and dragging for at least a week. And for what? NOTHING. Guess what, folks, you aren't getting an extra hour of anything. It's called SUMMER and the days will be longer all by themselves! You still get X number of hours of sunlight and I really think that whatever you need summer sunlight to do you can get done by 8:30 at night instead of the sun staying up until 9:30. Awfully hard to put little ones to bed at a civilized hour when the sun hasn't set. It is idiotic.

The reason (as I understand it... could be wrong) we don't just pick a time and stay with it is because yes, kids would be standing at the bus stop going to school in the dark in the winter, so they still switch it back for a few months.

Imagine how it works in hospitals. Imagine issuing a time of death. This person passed away at 1:55 am and this person passed away almost an hour later at 1:50 a.m. Ridiculous. And again, there is no reason for it at all, you still get plenty of daylight! Makes us the laughingstock of the rest of the world that knows perfectly well how to tell time and has no need to fiddle with it twice a year.

I say abolish it altogether. It sucks.

 

[Dennis]

I detest daylight stupid time with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. I HAAAAAAAAAAATE it.

Yes, my pets are confused, yes my kids have trouble, yes it screws up medication times, yes we all feel tired and dragging for at least a week. And for what? NOTHING. Guess what, folks, you aren't getting an extra hour of anything. It's called SUMMER and the days will be longer all by themselves! You still get X number of hours of sunlight and I really think that whatever you need summer sunlight to do you can get done by 8:30 at night instead of the sun staying up until 9:30. Awfully hard to put little ones to bed at a civilized hour when the sun hasn't set. It is idiotic.

The reason (as I understand it... could be wrong) we don't just pick a time and stay with it is because yes, kids would be standing at the bus stop going to school in the dark in the winter, so they still switch it back for a few months.

Imagine how it works in hospitals. Imagine issuing a time of death. This person passed away at 1:55 am and this person passed away almost an hour later at 1:50 a.m. Ridiculous. And again, there is no reason for it at all, you still get plenty of daylight! Makes us the laughingstock of the rest of the world that knows perfectly well how to tell time and has no need to fiddle with it twice a year.

I say abolish it altogether. It sucks.

Wow! I love it! So far, this is the best post. Unbridled emotion, particularly the opening sentence.

I detest daylight stupid time with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. I HAAAAAAAAAAATE it.

Complete and total honesty unleashed on the world; a sophisticated blend of hate and discontent with just a hint of turmoil and confusion. Perfect!
:clap::clap::clap:
NEXT!

 

[new12soap]

*takes bow*

You asked! I happen to have very strong feelings about this subject and have never been shy about expressing them

 

[jenfrat]

I love that it will stay lighter later, but hated how early I woke up today and hate the fact that we will all be messed up from this for the next week or so.

 

[neeners]

I just don't understand why the time has to change. it doesn't make sense.

oh, side note. I hope I don't get in trouble for this, but I heard there's a rumor that Barbados tried to daylight savings a while back, but couldn't b/c the people couldn't understand the concept...... b/c of that, I heard they stopped trying the daylight savings. lol.

 

[alaskazimm]

Only the government could think that they could make a day longer by taking an hour from the morning and adding it to the evening - kind of like trying to make yourself taller by cutting off your head and standing on it.

BTW I hate DST. It's utterly pointless.

 

[Hazel]

Makes us the laughingstock of the rest of the world that knows perfectly well how to tell time and has no need to fiddle with it twice a year.

I enjoyed your post but I did want to point out there are other countries which use DST. The first countries to use it were in Europe - so another fad which crossed the Atlantic to be enjoyed by Americans. Also, DST is used in some parts of the world but only in some regions and not necessarily the entire country.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Ugh. Body did NOT want to get up for work this morning.

That being said, I'm one of those whose internal clocks are set for later. Once I adjust, the extra hour of light in the evenings will be helpful for me getting stuff done. If we didn't switch the clocks, then it'd end up being another hour of daylight that I'd end up sleeping through.

 

[Lin]

I hate it. It used to not change where I lived, we were "Indiana Eastern" time zone with eastern half the year central the other half and no changing. I was seriously pissed when we started changing. I still hate it.

 

[detroitgirl77]

Today sucked for me. My 3.5 yr old daughter didn't sleep until midnight, I had to get up at 5am for a 6 am meeting at work. Only 4 hours of sleep due to springing forward. Still in dire need of a nap.

 

[Khanjari]

Oh boy! I hate ate hate this DST! Could not go to bed till 12:50 and now I am sleepy. Don't feel hungry at the lunch time and just UGHHHH!