Why the debate about Daylight Saving Time?

It does not make sense.
https://www.sciencealert.com/here-are-5-ways-life-would-be-better-if-we-made-daylight-saving-time-permanent

I have lived in places where they had daylight saving time and in places where they didn’t. I don’t think it makes any sense but nobody asked me.

No matter whether it’s DLS time or not, we still only get 24 hours in our day. I’m guessing that you’re still young & it doesn’t bother you. when it originally started they sold the idea to the masses that it was needed to give farmers extra daylight in the evening so they could get more work done. Shocker…that was BS!!! The time change came about because corporate executives wanted to play golf longer after work. I find changing it twice a year screws with my internal clock twice a year. IF we really need the extra hours in the afternoon, just give us the extra hours ALL year instead of giving my body time to get used to one way & suddenly switch it to a different way. I don’t see WHY it needs to be changed more than once a year…change it once & make it permanent!!!

There is no debate, it saves energy, and I can see how it “makes sense to have the change twice a year” if they make the change once. That doesn’t stop me worrying about the curtains fading.

The debate is over the hassle of changing twice a year, especially in the spring where people lose N hour and are collectively short on sleep.

I would like a Federal mandate that the entire country go to all-the-time standard time. Changing time twice a year is madness. Over a year ago Florida’s legislature voted to stay on DST all year. Governor signed and sent to Congress for approval. Not a word. If it is allowed Florida and the West coast will be four hours different in time half of the year. That is irritating and in some cases almost impossible in business. I have written my reps about it. More than once.

@Sagacious: If the whole country were in the same time zone, then people on the west coast would have the sun rising in the middle of the night.

It doesnt matter to me, although driving home in the dark stinks thru winter.

The problem is in the spring, when people have to drive in the dark in the morning, before they are fully awake. Several children are killed each year walking to school, struck by vehicles.
Students, working people, have to work in the dark.

Daylight Stupid Time is a blight on humanity. It should be abolished and we should have Standard Time the whole year.

Let the kids go to school an hour later. They’re young enough to adapt!!!

@Yellowdog Read my link. There are more accidents and problems with the dark afternoons in the winter months.

I think my solution, which I have suggested here before, is best.

Set all clocks in the US one half hour ahead of Standard Time, then never change them. The evening light people get their light at end of day, the “kids have to walk to school” people get some light in the morning.

Be glad you don’t live in Western Spain, where you are mandated to be on European Time, but are west of most of British Time.

What people don’t realize:

But what if we didn’t have Daylight Saving Time? What if we stayed on Daylight Saving Time all year round? These are a few questions we asked, and below is what life would be like if we stayed on a specific time all year long.

If we were on Standard Time the entire year, we would notice it most during the summer months (when we currently observe Daylight Saving Time). During the longest day of the year, June 21, the sun would rise at 4:11 a.m. However, the sun would set at 8:10 p.m. I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy the later sunsets during the summer months.

What if we were on Daylight Saving Time year round?

We would experience those later sunsets in the summer, but you would most notice the change during the winter months. On the shortest day of the year, December 21, the sun wouldn’t rise until 8:54 a.m. That’s almost a 9 a.m. sunrise. And the sun would set at 5:20 p.m.

It’s important to note that we’re not changing how much daylight there is in a day, just when we observe the daylight. The winters will still be short and dark, and the summers will always have really long daylight hours. We’re just changing the time at which we experience them.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/what-would-life-be-like-without-daylight-saving-time/281-611398189

@LadyMarissa “when it originally started they sold the idea to the masses that it was needed to give farmers extra daylight in the evening so they could get more work done”

It wasn’t, actually. That’s an old myth. Farmers don’t work by the clock to begin so, so it’s of little consequence to them what time the clock says. Farmers rise with the Sun, work while the Sun is out, and retire for the evening when the Sun goes down. DST was sold to those who do punch a clock for a living. It was to give them an extra hour of light at the end of the day after they clocked out of work.

Personally I’m all for making DST the standard and making it year-round. Darkness at 4:30 PM sucks fetid ass.

@Caravanfan

Why standard?

@Darth_Algar Because I’m an astronomer and I like the dark.

Standard makes more sense to have, at noon, the sun at the meridian.

That’s the whole definition of what a clock represents anyway. The arc of the sun, looking southward in the northern hemisphere.

I’d imagine it messes with our schedules for the rising and movements of celestial bodies as well.

@jca2 I didn’t say anything about Time Zones.

How do people in 6 months darkness 6 months light manage?

@flo My friend who lives in Alaska takes a Hawaiian vacation every winter.

@Caravanfan I’m talking in relation to the OP and the answers so far i.e “driving in the dark” etc.

@flo Oh, well they just deal with it and adapt, I suppose.