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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.")

16 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 Rob+Lister · · Score: 5, Funny

      Based on 100 million people wasting 5 minutes changing clocks twice a year, and given an average life expectancy of 80 years, I estimate 23 lives are wasted.

      At least a few of those 23 are going to be children.

      Please, think of the children.

    2. 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.

    3. 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
    4. Re:End it by rlitman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Still better than VCRs 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00

  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.")

    1. Re:The problem with the E.U. by Mjlner · · Score: 3, Informative

      "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.")

      So what if a majority comes from the largest country? Looking at the results by country reveals that abolishing the switch is the more popular choice in all but two countries: Greece and Cyprus. In the rest of the EU, the preference was to ditch the switch, mostly by overwheling majorities, up to 95%.

      --
      Lemon curry???
  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?

    2. Re:DST all year round for the win by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's easier to change the clock to determine everybody to adapt the new time than to make everybody change their schedule. Don't believe me, try to change your business schedule, then think about the effort to do that for all the business all sync at the same time... guess what they easiest and sane solution is to change the official hour.

    3. Re:DST all year round for the win by religionofpeas · · Score: 3, Interesting

      No, it really isn't. Changing timetables or working hours or meetings times is done all the time.

      Many stores in my town have business hours printed on a piece of paper behind their window. It's much easier to change the clock, than it is to reprint all the signs. Also, various kinds of public transport still have paper timetables. Even if everything is electronic, changing the times would require an atomic update on the entire database, rather than an update on the global time offset.

  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. 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.

  6. Ditch Standard Time by Discgolferusa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Forget ditching DST, get rid of standard time. Who cares if i go to work in the dark, I want to come home to enjoy some sunlight! During standard time in the winter I not only get the joy of coming to work in the dark, but getting home in the dark as well, because it's sunset by the time I leave.

    I'd love to have an hour of daylight to get stuff done outside when i get home and not have to wait for the weekend!

  7. 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.

  8. 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.