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Daylight Saving Time is Super Unpopular. Here Are the Countries Trying To Ditch It. (washingtonpost.com)

Posted by msmash on from the what-in-the-world dept.

Daylight Saving Time ended in the United States on Sunday, bumping the clocks back an hour. The change happened in Europe a week earlier, meaning the time difference between the continents was momentarily smaller. It's another confusing wrinkle in a confusing temporal process that confounds the world. From a story: Today, 70 countries change their clocks midyear for Daylight Saving Time, including most of North America, Europe and parts of South America and New Zealand. China, Japan, India and most countries near the equator don't fall back or jump ahead. In much of Asia and South America, the Daylight Saving Time shift was adopted, but then abandoned. It has never been observed in most of Africa. While the United States extended its Daylight Saving Time in 2005 and Florida wants to make it its standard time, other countries are moving to ditch the practice.

The European Union is weighing a plan to abandon shifting from daylight saving time midyear. "Millions ... believe that summertime should be all the time," the European Union's chief executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, told German reporters in August. Juncker was referring, in part, to an online poll conducted by the E.U., which found that changing clocks is tremendously unpopular. (As my colleague Rick Noack pointed out, however, there are methodological problems: "The largest share of participants came from one country -- Germany -- where the time switch has been a somewhat odd front-page topic for years. But any E.U. decision would also impact the 27 other member states.")

15 of 355 comments (clear)

  1. End it by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I can't believe I've had to endure forced jet lag twice a year my whole life, for no reason that anyone can coherently articulate.

    It would be nice if we can end it while I can still enjoy it, lol

    1. Re: End it by schure · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The European thing should be nuanced: the union's mandate would end, but individual nations could still decide to continue changing to DST.

    2. Re: End it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No! No nation should have a choice in this. It is stupid from any possible way to look at it. Just end it and let it die in the history books as one of humanity's most asinine, clueless attempts to changing our world around us. We are finally I the correct time. If the uneducated morons in FL want to keep the day shifted an hour then just simply start shit an hour later. Open stores at 9 instead of 8. Done. Dont be a bunch of dumbfuck nitwits and change your time because well you are dumb.

    3. Re: End it by mcvos · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But there is: the sun. Originally, noon was the point where the sun was at its highest. Of course that meant each town had a slightly different time, so with long distance communication and travel (telegraph and train), time became standardised in time zones.

      Ideally, every country would be in the timezone closest to its natural time. In practice, of course many don't. Most of western Europe actually follows central European time, because Germany. But if they now decide to standardise on summer time rather than winter time, Madrid would end up in the eastern European timezone.

    4. Re:End it by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Cars often still need their clocks changed manually. "

      Naw. Cars, just like ovens and microwaves show the wrong time for half a year, because nobody can remember how to change them and the manual is long gone.

    5. Re:End it by dcw3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Thinning the herd isn't a negative side effect, it's natural selection.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
  2. The problem with the E.U. by trevc · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "The largest share of participants came from one country -- Germany -- where the time switch has been a somewhat odd front-page topic for years. But any E.U. decision would also impact the 27 other member states.")

  3. DST all year round for the win by sjbe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It seems screamingly obvious to me that most people would prefer a little extra daylight after work. That has the most utility to the most people. Make DST year round and be done with it. There is no reason that noon has to be the time of day when the sun is highest overhead. That's just tradition for the sake of useless tradition.

    1. Re:DST all year round for the win by SirMasterboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why change the clock? Why not just change business hours if it's going to be year round?

  4. Dangerous Time by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Statistically, two of the most dangerous times of year come the week after each of the time changes as people's body-clocks don't match up with the time of day. There are an increase in accidents and deaths during this time.

    I understand that there are concerns for children standing in the dark waiting for buses. Perhaps we need to make daylight savings time the standard time year round (or just make schools start an hour later and the suggested work day start an hour later).

    Let's stop the charade and just set time to a static time year round.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  5. Please by theM_xl · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Let's just all switch to UTC and be done with the current mess already.

    Or the 40K Imperial clock, that might be amusing...

  6. News Flash by tsqr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Daylight Saving Time does not "confound the world". It does, however, provide endless fodder for those who wake up every day looking for something about which to be outraged.

  7. UTC by Danathar · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I know this will never happen (It's about as likely as adopting Stardates...) but UTC for everybody would solve the problem. Fact of the matter is, people do things at different times (like eat Breakfast) at different times (actual time, not clock time) around the world. The clock time should reflect that. I'm a bit biased because I deal with international video conferences and UTC would make things SO MUCH EASIER.

  8. Good luck with that by sjbe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why change the clock? Why not just change business hours if it's going to be year round?

    Which do you think is easier? Mandating a clock change for everyone or convincing every business to simultaneously change their operating hours?

    I suggest the former is the only practical solution.

  9. Re:does it still serve a purpose in those areas? by mcvos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Winter time is actually the standard time. Summer time is the deviation from it. You're basically moving your country from its natural timezone to the timezone east of it. (Or, if you live in western Europe, from the timezone to the east to two timezones to the east.) So while summer time all year round sounds pleasant, it's not. Winter time all year round makes more sense.