DST 2013 begins Sunday, March 10.

Twice a year I get annoyed by Daylight Saving Time. In 2006, I got annoyed enough that I started to write a rant about why we should get rid of it, and then I started to find reasons we should keep it. By the time I was finished with my rant, I decided I prefer a different solution: let's keep it year round!

Here's my my rant: Daylight Saving Time.

Update: [2014-03-08] By 2012, I grew to accept DST. Sunrise times are kept within a narrower range, as you can see by looking at the blue line on this graph. Without DST, you either have the sun rising way too early in summer, or you have the sun rising way too late in the winter. :-(

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41 comments:

lahosken wrote at Monday, October 30, 2006 at 8:53:00 PM PST

I agree that DST transitions are horrid, but as a morning person, I would prefer that we were always an hour back, not an hour forward.

Maybe we could compromise and use UTC all year?

Anonymous wrote at Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 12:27:00 PM PST

Amit, A permanent shift only make sense when time shifting is not a way of life for society. More corporations are adopting flex hours. More poeple are adopting time shifting devices such as TIVO. The optimal solution is for society to continue to adopt personal time shifting rather than a government mandated time shift.

Anonymous wrote at Wednesday, November 8, 2006 at 11:35:00 AM PST

Hey I know this one:
Here's my my rant

It's just like "Paris in the the spring"

Anonymous wrote at Friday, December 29, 2006 at 9:33:00 PM PST

Actually my idea is to get rid of daylight savings time and also Timezones. Just have one central time globally and then let individual countries and companies decide when to open and close their offices, and individual people decide when to wake up and go to sleep. It would be a little hard on small brained folks at first, but i think they would get used to it.

Amit wrote at Friday, December 29, 2006 at 10:43:00 PM PST

I too would like to get rid of time zones, but I think that's too drastic of a change for most people. :-(

Anonymous wrote at Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 10:20:00 AM PST

>>let individual countries and companies decide when to open and close their offices, and individual people decide when to wake up and go to sleep.

This is what suppose to be, I just dont understand why a guy so smart like Ben Franklin came up with DST idea.

Amit wrote at Tuesday, April 3, 2007 at 12:45:00 PM PDT

I still think getting rid of time zones won't be accepted right now, but I think that we can take smaller steps to getting rid of time zones.

Anonymous wrote at Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 4:59:00 PM PDT

I say stop changing the time on the clocks and change the time people go to work. If the work day hours were from 6am to 3pm we would have more daylite evening hours. parents would be home for their children after school....more parent supervision...less juvenille delinquency? this could change MANY things.

EdEKit wrote at Friday, June 8, 2007 at 7:59:00 AM PDT

This is a simple problem to solve, If you want to rise at sunrise, rise at sunrise. If you want to play in the sun year round, get a night job. Work from 11 pm to 7 am. Play all day. Clocks do not dictate the time of sunrise and sunset.

Anonymous wrote at Wednesday, October 31, 2007 at 1:08:00 PM PDT

I don't care which one is picked, lets just pick one and stay with it year round. What we need is a SERIOUS way make this happen. Arizona did it, why can't the rest of us?

Anonymous wrote at Friday, November 2, 2007 at 4:33:00 PM PDT

Twice a year I curse the idiocy of changing the time base. Benjamin Franklin would be amused that we took his joke and live it. I agree Amit - lets keep daylight savings time.

Anonymous wrote at Saturday, November 3, 2007 at 11:09:00 PM PDT

I certainly agree that a permanent Daylight Savings Time is the way to go! I really hate it when 5 p.m. rolls around and it is dark. I would rather drive to work in the dark and drive home in the light. It is so much cheerier and I have something to look forward to as opposed to a gloomy homecoming.

Anonymous wrote at Sunday, November 4, 2007 at 5:34:00 AM PST

Set the clocks to one time and leave them there.

Anonymous wrote at Sunday, November 4, 2007 at 1:09:00 PM PST

I think we should stick with one time all year round, or if we have to DST makes more sense the other way around, that is to have an extra hour of light in the Winter when it gets darker earlier.

Anonymous wrote at Sunday, November 4, 2007 at 2:54:00 PM PST

Yes, by all means, keep the daylight in the evening and leave it there forever. If businesses have trouble coping with daylight, they will probably go out of business anyway.

Rick wrote at Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 9:05:00 AM PST

I think the country should vote to allow DST to be all year long. How can this happen?

Rick wrote at Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 9:13:00 AM PST

How can we make DST all year long.

Anonymous wrote at Friday, November 23, 2007 at 11:41:00 PM PST

YES!!! I've been saying this for years, I vote for DST all year, lets enjoy life to the fullest! Summer is sublime, and winter needs help!

Anonymous wrote at Saturday, December 15, 2007 at 5:18:00 PM PST

I found your page because I was looking for good info on the whys wherefores of year round DST.

Personally don't care that it was tried in Ireland and the Uk from 1968-71 and not like in the Northern regions.

I think most people would use the daylight after work, a lesser percentage before work.

How do we make it happen? California requested it, Bush approved a few more weeks... so we now have just 18 wks PST, 34 wks PDT which is moving in the right direction.

I work for the City of LA. The clocks in our city building are high above a fragile Corian service counter. The City General Services Division must come out with a big ole' ladder to change the clocks for us. We went to PST in early Nov., still showing PDT on the clock -- so we've put an out of order sign up on top of it. I wonder if it will be worth it for them to make change by the time they arrive.

Anonymous wrote at Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 2:40:00 PM PST

I'm very glad to read that so many folks feel like I do. Leave DST
year round and make it "Standard Time", especially with all the pluses
it has. It's a real time warp for me
to change 30 each watches and clocks
twice a year. The batteries in smoke alarms will last a full year - change
them New Years Day.

Anonymous wrote at Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 7:31:00 PM PST

One reason for switching out of it in the winter is so it's not dark when kids go to school.
I remember growing up, we lived in western Ohio, an hour east of the Indiana border. In the pretty western part of the eastern time zone. School started at 8:00 AM, I think. During the week before the shift in the fall, we started school in the dark and it was dark during the first hour of school.
I thought it was weird/depressing to be starting school in the dark, and was glad when the time changed so we could start school when there was daylight.

Anonymous wrote at Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 3:09:00 PM PDT

Perhaps if we all joined together and refused to change from standard time next year, the Government and Coporate America would have no choice but to STOP messing with the time.

Anonymous wrote at Sunday, March 16, 2008 at 5:29:00 PM PDT

I would vote for doing away w/dst.

During the school year our elementary age children should be getting a min. of 10 hours sleep. When we are in dst it is difficult to get children to wind down and get to bed by at least 8 p.m. when they still want to be outside at 7:30 in the evening.

If we had to have it at all it should start toward the very end of the school year, and end right after labor day.

I also do not like what it does to our internal time clock each time it changes.

Anonymous wrote at Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 9:23:00 PM PDT

:O i have to put up with bloody daylight savings during SUMMER! dont even THINK about taking my winter sleep ins away too! wen i wake up it will b like DARK the fucking STARS will still be up and NO WAY will i be able to make it through school with one hour LESS!

Anonymous wrote at Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 4:26:00 PM PDT

I wish we could have just one time and stick to it. I am convinced that people do have an internal body clock and when that has to change it can be very unhealthy and confusing for our bodies. There is evidence to show that car accident incidents increase in the fortnight following the time changes required for DST.

Anonymous wrote at Sunday, October 26, 2008 at 10:35:00 PM PDT

Year round DST, as suggested by some here, is one bad idea. No doubt for those that live in the mid to western portions of their respective time zones, you will have dark mornings till 8am or later. Especially from mid October thru early March. Not as much so for those that live in the eastern portions of their respective time zones, such as Denver, Chicago, or Boston. If Congress should ever be swayed to dicker with DST again and make it year round (I think that day IS coming), then additional legislation must mandate the re-drawing of U.S. time zones, and shift them further east. Example, regions near Detroit, and Atlanta be on Central time. Salt Lake City on Pacific time. This way, they will avoid the problems of unusually sunrises and delayed daylight in that mid October to early March period. They would be no different than what is currently experienced in areas such as Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, New York. This would level the playing field. Remember, some areas of the country in December-January can still go to work and school in some daylight at 7.15-7.30am, such as in Boston or NYC. But if you live in Salt Lake City or Detroit, those rise times are closer to 8am, and many of those folks go to work in the dark. Yes, they get some evening daylight back, whereas in those eastern cities they don't. Only by re-drawing the timezones, can there be more equality in the useful and needed daytime across more communities in this country...instead of the lopsided approach in practice right now. If we don't invoke a time zone shift and don't invoke year round DST, then the other solution might be to change the DST dates, and observe them only for the 5 warmest months of the year. From essentially the second Sunday in May and end it the 1st Sunday in October. We had a better system in place prior to 1987, when the dates were from the last Sunday in April until the last Sunday in October. It correlated well with the spring warmup and the resumption of outside activities, especially in the northern states. And states in the deep south, such as Florida, likely don't even need DST. Arizona does have the right idea. They stay on Standard time all year round. DST is a great idea, but I'm suggesting limiting its use to only five months a year, period. Eight months a year, now the current U.S. practice, is ill-advised and should be amended to a much shorter period. Maybe the new Congress and the new President can take this issue up in 2009?

Anonymous wrote at Thursday, October 30, 2008 at 2:56:00 AM PDT

what schools in California start before 8 am?, where in California is it dark at 8 am DST? all this talk about DST making it unsafe for kids to go to school in the morning because it is dark are just being "bandwagon idiots" i mean, unless you gotta get up 3 hours early and hike 5 miles in snow up to your chest to get to school, i don't see how this is even an issue!

Anonymous wrote at Saturday, November 1, 2008 at 8:32:00 PM PDT

I think Daylight savings time is a waste. Wether your moving the hands or changing the digits on a clock forwards or backwards dont make a difference on when the sunrises or sets nor does it slow down or speed up time. Its the pivoting tilt of the earths axis that causes the changing of seasons and the length of daylight. It has nothing to do with a clock!!! Our ancestors centuries ago use a sundial to tell time no one altered it then. Arizona dont mess with there clocks why should the other 49 states?? Time waits for no one!

Anonymous wrote at Sunday, November 2, 2008 at 12:41:00 PM PST

Actually a lot of schools in California and elsewhere start before 8 am, and it is a problem for those of us walking and riding our bikes to school. I feel it necessary to walk with my kids, even though it is not far, because it is so dark. Finally, now that we're back to standard time, we have light along our way.

I theorize that DST is a factor in the decline of education. Kids (and adults) stay up too late, being told biologically by the sun that they still have play time, only to drag out of bed in the dark the next morning. It is not natural, and it is not healthy.

Anonymous wrote at Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 10:18:00 AM PST

I like it and couldn't agree with you more!
We should use Daylight Savings Time all year round!

Anonymous wrote at Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 9:51:00 AM PST

Why don't we just refer to DST as "Damn Stupid Time change". Anyone who wants it year round simply needs to get up without wasting half of the morning!

Anonymous wrote at Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 6:14:00 AM PST

I am 83 years old. Each year the time is changed to DST I cannot become accustom to the change. Before DST my generation was a very healthy
I am 83 years old & never had a problem healthwise until some idiots decided to change to DST.

Anonymous wrote at Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 9:47:00 AM PDT

Anyone want to form a group to get rid of DST?

Anonymous wrote at Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 3:33:00 PM PDT

I get up at 4am and go to bed at 8:30pm My kids go to bed at 8:30pm. Why do you assume that early morning daylight is wasted? The reason Indiana does NOT participate in DST is that the farmers there stood up. They KNOW that morning daylight is not wasted daylight and it's really hard to get a good mornings' work in when it's still dark at bedtime. I live in California and am suprised that the agricultural community here hasn't had the courage to stand up like Indiana.

Anonymous wrote at Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 5:23:00 PM PDT

Nobody seems to get it. There are only so many hours of daylight. PERIOD.....

Judy wrote at Friday, April 10, 2009 at 6:46:00 PM PDT

DST is very stupid and outdated.It doesn't save anything and even increases the rate of heart attacks and accidents.
www.standardtime.com

Anonymous wrote at Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 7:46:00 PM PST

Whom ever did the graphs and the explantions of why we should keep DST...is completely "Brain Dead".

Anonymous wrote at Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at 11:41:00 AM PST

My vote is to stay on daylight saving time year round. More light at night means more opportunity to be active after work. No wonder half of America is obese. We live in the dark half the year. Yeck

Anonymous wrote at Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 9:55:00 PM PDT

Thank you, I have been arguing this point for years. Virtually everyone advocating DST begs the real question - if it's so wonderful, why not adopt it year round and avoid the costs of changing? Apparently that involves more actual thought than advocates are prepared to endure.

Anonymous wrote at Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 12:49:00 PM PDT

Each state already has the right to not observe Daylight Saving Time. So, if the federal government extended Daylight Saving Time to be observed year round, each state could more easily decide whether they wanted to observe Daylight Saving Time or not. Utah, Southern Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma, the Dakotas and so forth could easily decide not to observe DST and not have worry about switching timezones twice a year like Arizona currently does. Boston, New York, Chicago and California could benfit from year round dst if they so choose. Time zone boundaries would change without an official federal act. The only action the federal government needs to take is extending DST to being observed year round

Anonymous wrote at Friday, November 5, 2010 at 4:55:00 AM PDT

We should change just half hour.That will make
everybody happy...That will be the end of the history