Is the USA going to get rid of DST (Daylight Savings Time)?

[EACarlson]

Most of the USA population is on the east coast.

Not even close. The point in the Continental US where half live east, half west, half north and half south is just west of St. Louis. Regardless of the east coast media and political bias.

 

[kdonnel]

1. China does not require everyone to wake up and go to work on Beijing time.

2. Nobody is actually planning to do that here. It was simply an example to illustrate how it would work, Kids in California would be going to bed at exactly the same time of the day they do now. It's just the clock would say midnight instead of 9 And school would start at exactly the same time it does now. It's just the clocks would say 11 instead of 8 or 10 instead of 7 as the case may be. Nobody would be hosed as you claimed. And it wouldn't take an iq of 160 to figure it out either. I think people would be smart enough to figure out it's just a clock change instead of a real one. But again, just an example, Nobody is actually planning it.

People are generally bad at time math. Adding when they should be subtracting and subtracting when they should be adding.

My theory on China is that Bob the government official was tired of getting called at the wrong times from family members and constituents on the far reaches. So he made everyone set their clocks to Beijing. No more phone calls while he was having special time with his wife.

 

[kdonnel]

And for the folks who want to remove the increased mortality rate associated with the time change(3% or so) you should also be asking your surgeon if it’s their birthday. Surgery on the surgeons birthday is associated with a 25% increased mortality rate.

Let’s get a law passed mandating surgeons are off on their birthday!

 

[holden]

I absolutely hate how dark it gets in winter. I guess it's mostly in December/Jan. Darkness comes around 4/4:30, shortly after kids get home from school. The next day the sun rises around 7/7:30am. High school kids who have after school activities are getting home in the dark and going to school in the dark. The sun doesn't rise until first period. I find it incredibly difficult, and I only work at home.

I did buy one of those lamps for SAD, and it does help a bit.

 

[sam_gordon]

If most of mainland Europe can all have the same time zone, why can’t we?

Because we have a larger land mass? Looking at "most" of Mainland Europe (the part that's on a single time zone), it's ~1600 miles wide. If you go from the eastern tip of Maine, 1600 miles puts you in the middle of Wisconsin. Wisconsin and Illinois are about where CT starts.

Time zones go east to west The first time zone to start the day is next to the international date line. The next one is west of that, and so on and so on until you get to the last time zone that starts the day, next to the international date line on the other side.

Here's the world time zones based on UTC (which goes through England):

 

[PollyannaMom]

It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever to me. What is it that can possibly mess you up for an entire week? This is a heartfelt request, I really am intrigued by it as it really does make no sense to me.

Just like some people have better or worse vision that others and some have better or worse hearing than others, people can be more or less sensitive to circadian rhythms.

I'm not a person who can "sleep in" after staying up late. I will still wake up at the usual time, without an alarm, just having gotten less sleep. I'm very careful about what I'm willing to stay up late for, because I know what it will cost me.

And I always feel out of sync for a while after the time change - it's not just about sleep schedules, it's about meal times and other daily routines as well.

Test yourself sometimes by trying to guess what time it is what you haven't been near a clock in a while. My theory is that the better you are at that, the more you're affected by the time change.

 

[SirDuff]

My biggest issue is times like this coming week. We (CET) changed our clocks today but my US colleagues don’t until next week (all are based in places that change their clocks). So, regular meetings this week are always confusing (if I set the meetings, the time stays the same for me but changes fo them whereas if they set the meeting, the time stays the same for them and changes for me).

 

[RedAngie]

Central Time zone residents have always had to do a little math on that. The networks are set to Eastern and Pacific time. Of course then you have a few TV stations here that "shift" prime time an hour earlier. We have one here.

I remember years ago commercials for TV shows saying something like “Tune in at 9pm, 8pm Central.” But they ignored the Mountain time zone.

Sirius XM radio still does something similar. The Saturday Night Safety Dance on First Wave. “8pm Eastern, 5pm Pacific.” Central and Mountain have to figure it out on their own.

If the contiguous US adopts a single time zone, it should be Central as a least worst compromise.

I must be one of the few that has no problem with the change to/from DST. Yeah, maybe that first Sunday is a little discombobulated, but I adapt rapidly.

But maybe return to how it was up until the mid 80s. DST starts the last Sunday in April and ends the last Sunday in October. Today.

 

[RedAngie]

It messes up people with pets. The pets don't make the change. If the clock is set back an hour, the pet wants his normal 6 am breakfast at 5. And pets are experts at making enough racket to wake their humans up to get it too.

My cat adapts to time changes just as effortlessly as I do.

 

[sam_gordon]

My biggest issue is times like this coming week. We (CET) changed our clocks today but my US colleagues don’t until next week (all are based in places that change their clocks). So, regular meetings this week are always confusing (if I set the meetings, the time stays the same for me but changes fo them whereas if they set the meeting, the time stays the same for them and changes for me).

I think it's nice now how online calendars (my google calendar will do it and my outlook calendar did also) will automatically do the math. So if I set up an appointment in the calendar and send it to someone, it gets displayed in their time zone.

If the contiguous US adopts a single time zone, it should be Central as a least worst compromise.

I would agree with that (or use MT). But, if I did my calculations correctly, let's say sunrise is 7A (in CT) and sunset 6P. If everyone if is using the same time, that means sunrise in California would happen at 9A and the would set at 8P. On the east coast you'd have 6A & 5P. That's in winter.

In Summer, the sun wouldn't set in CA until 11P (and come up at 8A).

 

[SirDuff]

I think it's nice now how online calendars (my google calendar will do it and my outlook calendar did also) will automatically do the math. So if I set up an appointment in the calendar and send it to someone, it gets displayed in their time zone.

Yes, super helpful. Also there's a great website for figuring out when to schedule a meeting if there are people in multiple time zones. This week is still always tricky - since Outlook will update differently depending on if I set the meeting or if someone in the US did.

 

[BorderTenny]

Because we have a larger land mass? Looking at "most" of Mainland Europe (the part that's on a single time zone), it's ~1600 miles wide. If you go from the eastern tip of Maine, 1600 miles puts you in the middle of Wisconsin. Wisconsin and Illinois are about where CT starts.

Here's the world time zones based on UTC (which goes through England):

That map is wrong. Florida and Michigan's Upper Peninsula are NOT in Central time zone.

 

[RedAngie]

And of course the U.S. did get rid of the time change once, maybe before some of you were born. People hated it.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/...light-saving-time-in-the-70s-people-hated-it/

In 1975 they adjusted it. DST started the last Sunday in February that year. But it proved equally unsatisfactory. In 1976 they went back to the norm of starting DST in late April.

That’s how I think it should still be. How can it be “standard” time when it only lasts 4 months?

 

[SirDuff]

That map is wrong. Florida and Michigan's Upper Peninsula are NOT in Central time zone.

The map also has UK in the same timezone as France (and other Central Europe countries) - in the same vertical band and the same colour.

 

[JaxDad]

That map is wrong. Florida and Michigan's Upper Peninsula are NOT in Central time zone.

Part of the Florida panhandle is in the Central time zone. I used to drive across the line every day.

 

[sam_gordon]

That map is wrong. Florida and Michigan's Upper Peninsula are NOT in Central time zone.

The map also has UK in the same timezone as France (and other Central Europe countries) - in the same vertical band and the same colour.

Here you go... is this better?

Grr... it previews but doesn't post.

Here's the link: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...zones_of_the_world-UTC.svg.png?20211026111927

 

[SirDuff]

Here you go... is this better?

Grr... it previews but doesn't post.

Here's the link: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...zones_of_the_world-UTC.svg.png?20211026111927

Don't know enough the argument of the panhandle but much better for Europe

 

[tvguy]

Not even close. The point in the Continental US where half live east, half west, half north and half south is just west of St. Louis. Regardless of the east coast media and political bias.

Well, this opens up a whole other can of worms. St. Louis is considered the Midwest, yet it is 500 miles EAST of Lebanon, Kansas, the geographic center of the continental U.S. so it really is Mideast. Colorado really should be considered the Midwest.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I’m in favor of stopping the annual clock changing ritual. I prefer more light at the end of the day. But IMO, a permanent half hour change is a good compromise.

 

[MillauFr]

The most obvious answer is to change the tilt of the planet so everyone can have 12 hours of daylight each and every day.