[2021] Daylight saving time - here's why Arizona doesn't adjust its clocks.

[Brett]

This. Exactly. It becomes even more effective the further north you live. I now live in FL and honestly, it really doesn't matter here if we do DST or not, but I grew up in northern MN, and it makes a huge improvement there. Who wants it getting light at 4am in the summer? And I remember during the 70's energy crisis -- that winter it was pitch black when we got on the school bus in the morning. Not optimal at all.

What I find hilarious is how many people here bitch and moan about changing one lousy hour twice a year. This is a timeshare community -- you know, where most everyone travels extensively, right? Do those same people bitch and moan about traveling across one time zone for their vacations? Oh, how do they handle going further, like Hawaii or Europe??? They must be fun to be around...

Kurt

the few and proud

.

 

[jp10558]

This. Exactly. It becomes even more effective the further north you live. I now live in FL and honestly, it really doesn't matter here if we do DST or not, but I grew up in northern MN, and it makes a huge improvement there. Who wants it getting light at 4am in the summer? And I remember during the 70's energy crisis -- that winter it was pitch black when we got on the school bus in the morning. Not optimal at all.

What I find hilarious is how many people here bitch and moan about changing one lousy hour twice a year. This is a timeshare community -- you know, where most everyone travels extensively, right? Do those same people bitch and moan about traveling across one time zone for their vacations? Oh, how do they handle going further, like Hawaii or Europe??? They must be fun to be around...

Kurt

When I travel, usually not everyone around me also has jet lag. I don't usually have to reset clocks around my house and in all my appliances. IDK about being north and your experience in the 70s, but with DST it was quite dark many mornings for me getting on the bus in the 90s. So it didn't solve that problem at all. IDK, if it was obvious when to change, why do the dates we change ... keep changing? This is the other issue, with the changing dates any automation fails on cheap clocks, and computers end up needing patches etc. Just extra work all around and for what? If we can't agree, maybe go 1/2 way between and stick there? Time is arbitrary, so we could make it just work however.

 

[Talent312]

I as single, retired person, I like to change my clocks back & forth.
It gives a bit of meaning to my existence. I'd like to do it more often.
.

 

[PigsDad]

...but with DST it was quite dark many mornings for me getting on the bus in the 90s. So it didn't solve that problem at all.

You realize without changing the clocks, it would have been dark for a hour extra on your dark mornings, correct?

Kurt

 

[PigsDad]

the few and proud

Damn straight!

But I am positive that if we did away with DST, there would be far more than 12% that would not be happy with the result. Why are my kids going to school in the dark? Why is it light at 4am in the summer? Why does it get dark at 7 pm in the summer? The complaints would be endless. Most people have not thought this through, IMO.

Kurt

 

[LannyPC]

...if it was obvious when to change, why do the dates we change ... keep changing?

The general rule is this. Adjust your clocks ahead one hour the second Sunday in March at 2:00 AM; adjust your clocks back the first Sunday in November at 2:00 AM. The reason, I think is to make sure that it falls on a Sunday when most people don't have to work. This gives them at least one working day to adjust their regular clocks and body clocks. After all, when we change our clocks, would you want to do it on a Wednesday morning at 2:00 assuming you work M-F regular business hours?

 

[LannyPC]

Most people have not thought this through, IMO.

Such as, IMHO, the British Columbia Premiere.

I didn't hear of any alerts to BC residents that the Premiere was going to enact this. There was only the announcement this Monday that this was law and going into effect. There was no referendum on this like there was in the Province of Alberta a few years ago.

Interestingly, regarding the Alberta referendum, the vote to keep adjusting clocks biannually won by a razor thin margin over keeping year-round daylight time. But from how vocal some people were about scrapping the biannual time change, you would have thought that that option would have won out. I guess this is one of those cases of Silent Majority, Vocal minority. I kind of wonder if that is the case here in BC.

 

[LannyPC]

But I am positive that if we did away with DST, there would be far more than 12% that would not be happy with the result.

Me too.

 

[jp10558]

You realize without changing the clocks, it would have been dark for a hour extra on your dark mornings, correct?

Kurt

I would have been in school so I wouldn't have cared, and otherwise I'd be asleep or inside. I just don't really understand the "it's bad to be dark" - you get darkness the same amount every day - doesn't matter how you mess with the clock.

 

[jp10558]

Damn straight!

But I am positive that if we did away with DST, there would be far more than 12% that would not be happy with the result. Why are my kids going to school in the dark? Why is it light at 4am in the summer? Why does it get dark at 7 pm in the summer? The complaints would be endless. Most people have not thought this through, IMO.

Kurt

So then... what's the argument against just doing DST all year? Or hell, moving to the half hour in the middle? I guess it depends on where you live, but it doesn't get dark till 9:30 or later here in Upstate NY, and frankly for me that's a PITA to get to sleep so I can get up for work the next day. I actually think some people like to complain so it probably doesn't matter - you'll get vocal complainers. Look, all your arguments don't make any sense to me because I'm not saying, nor do I care, what time we pick, just that we pick one. I have yet to meet anyone in real life who is like "YAY, I love mucking with my clocks twice a year!"

 

[jp10558]

Me too.

What if we just did away with standard time then? I just want to pick a time and stick with it, I don't care which it is.

 

[PigsDad]

I would have been in school so I wouldn't have cared, and otherwise I'd be asleep or inside. I just don't really understand the "it's bad to be dark" - you get darkness the same amount every day - doesn't matter how you mess with the clock.

I take it you have never had to have your kids walk to school or send them on a school bus. It is inherently more dangerous for kids to be crossing streets, loading on a bus, etc. in pitch darkness than in daylight. I though that would be obvious, but I guess not.

Kurt

 

[PigsDad]

So then... what's the argument against just doing DST all year? Or hell, moving to the half hour in the middle? I guess it depends on where you live, but it doesn't get dark till 9:30 or later here in Upstate NY, and frankly for me that's a PITA to get to sleep so I can get up for work the next day. I actually think some people like to complain so it probably doesn't matter - you'll get vocal complainers. Look, all your arguments don't make any sense to me because I'm not saying, nor do I care, what time we pick, just that we pick one. I have yet to meet anyone in real life who is like "YAY, I love mucking with my clocks twice a year!"

Like I said before, since I am now in FL, I really don't care because it doesn't make much of a difference here. Where it truly helps to optimize daylight hours to map with society norms (such as when schools are in session, when businesses are open, etc.) is in the northern states (in the US). Fulltime DST would be better than fulltime ST, but there was valid reasons why DST was created in the first place, and placating those who just whine about changing their clocks twice a year wasn't one of them. Sorry if you find that activity so taxing.

Personally, I have to "muck with my clocks" more often than twice a year due to power blips. Oh, woe is me!

Kurt

 

[PigsDad]

IDK, if it was obvious when to change, why do the dates we change ... keep changing? This is the other issue, with the changing dates any automation fails on cheap clocks, and computers end up needing patches etc.

FYI, the dates for when we enter/leave DST have only changed twice: in 1986 and then again in 2007. That's it, since the Uniform Time Act was enacted in 1966, 60 years ago.

Kurt

 

[jp10558]

I take it you have never had to have your kids walk to school or send them on a school bus. It is inherently more dangerous for kids to be crossing streets, loading on a bus, etc. in pitch darkness than in daylight. I though that would be obvious, but I guess not.

Kurt

I don't have kids, so I can only think back to when I was a kid. We walked to the end of our driveway and waited for the bus to show up. When we were too young to manage that our parents took us to wait for the bus. Again DST did not make 0 days dark, but I thought your complaint was light at 4AM? Wouldn't that make it better, not worse then? And school busses (at least here) dropped off by 3:30 or so at the latest, before dark on the earliest dark standard time days here. I don't buy this argument.

 

[jp10558]

Like I said before, since I am now in FL, I really don't care because it doesn't make much of a difference here. Where it truly helps to optimize daylight hours to map with society norms (such as when schools are in session, when businesses are open, etc.) is in the northern states (in the US). Fulltime DST would be better than fulltime ST, but there was valid reasons why DST was created in the first place, and placating those who just whine about changing their clocks twice a year wasn't one of them. Sorry if you find that activity so taxing.

Personally, I have to "muck with my clocks" more often than twice a year due to power blips. Oh, woe is me!

Kurt

Well, it is clear that neither of us has arguments that resonate with the other, so we'll just have to agree to disagree. I do wonder if I'd be saying "placating those who just whine about changing their clocks twice a year wasn't one of them" about you if we did switch back to a fixed time however. I bet you'd be complaining in that case.

 

[buzglyd]

San Diego is about the same longitude as Boise so I vote we switch to Mountain time.

 

[PigsDad]

but I thought your complaint was light at 4AM?

I said in the summer.

 

[PigsDad]

I don't have kids, so I can only think back to when I was a kid. We walked to the end of our driveway and waited for the bus to show up. When we were too young to manage that our parents took us to wait for the bus. Again DST did not make 0 days dark, but I thought your complaint was light at 4AM? Wouldn't that make it better, not worse then? And school busses (at least here) dropped off by 3:30 or so at the latest, before dark on the earliest dark standard time days here. I don't buy this argument.

Yes, it is clear you haven't had to think about kids' safety as a parent. You do know that many kids walk to school, not just ride a bus, right? And even if they are taking a bus, not all bus stops are at the end of their driveway. Crossing streets, even in neighborhoods, is much more dangerous for kids in darkness vs. daylight, especially when they would be walking to the bus stops or schools about the same time most people are driving to work. I guess when you haven't been in those situations, you just can't see the potential issues.

Kurt

 

[PigsDad]

Well, it is clear that neither of us has arguments that resonate with the other, so we'll just have to agree to disagree. I do wonder if I'd be saying "placating those who just whine about changing their clocks twice a year wasn't one of them" about you if we did switch back to a fixed time however. I bet you'd be complaining in that case.

Like I said earlier, I really don't care now, especially since I live in FL and the daylight swings aren't near as dramatic here. I suggest you read up on the Uniform Time Act and the reasons it came to be in the first place; it is enlightening (pun intended).

Kurt

 

[LannyPC]

What if we just did away with standard time then?

This is what British Columbia is now doing. It shouldn't be a problem from now until November 1. But when most of the rest of Canada and USA are setting their clocks back in November and causing a rift with BC, we'll see what happens.

As for "[doing] away with standard time", the issue, FWIU, is that US Congress has to approve a permanent move to Daylight Time. Many have been waiting for this, such as the current BC Government, but it hasn't happened. The BC Government probably felt that if it gets the ball rolling with this move, others will follow suit.

Also, as Kurt/PigsDad has been pointing out, a permanent move to Daylight time would cause a very late sunrise in Canada and more northern parts of the US. As I have said in previous posts, the biannual time change helps make best use of the limited daylight hours in the fall and winter and longer daylight hours in the spring and summer. I understand that many people feel that the biannual clock change is a hassle and inconvenience but for me, it's not that big of a deal. It's easy to adjust a clock. Most of our phones automatically adjust the time.

 

[pedro47]

Day Light Saving Time starts March 8, 2026 in the majority of the states in the United States.

 

[WinniWoman]

I just hate that now it will be dark in the mornings for a while. I’m a morning person.

It’s nice for it to be lighter later in the evening, but honestly that doesn’t affect my life because I don’t do anything differently in my day to day life whether it’s light or dark in the evening. We still have dinner the same time. We generally don’t go out after dinner and usually we read and watch tv. But it does get noisy outside with all the summer vacationers, fireworks, etc.

I’d be happy with standard time year round in New England. But whatever….

 

[Snazzylass]

I was anticipating not enjoying the dark mornings starting tomorrow. However, maybe a chance to experience the sunrise is what I really enjoy! Currently, I'm on my covered front porch listening the rain and song birds. When it's not raining, I've got decks in the back to enjoy the sunrise. My Cornell U bird app keeps me busy identifying the various songbirds.