Daylight Savings Time - Like or Not

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I hate Daylight Savings Time - the older I get the more difficult it becomes to adjust to the change. Not to mention I simply hate getting up when it is dark. But that is only part of it.

 

Supposedly, it saves us money but I don't really understand how. The last thing I need in Florida is an extra hour of daylight during the hottest part of the day. If you've been in Florida during the summer you know the only place to be at 5:00 is in an air conditioned room. What you really need is more daylight in the morning to water your garden, talk a walk etc before the heat becomes oppressive.

 

Oh well.

[Jeanway 0]

It's been what 2,3 weeks now? I still haven't changed all my clocks

[scaleman 0]

Although i picked 'i tolerate it', i am really annoyed with it. It's something routine that's no longer necessary, pure and simple. I can't imagine the horrors the owners of devices with lots of clocks go through (especially the clock shop owners).

[stoned_vulcan 0]

actually the REAL reason for daylight savings time is so that school children dont have to walk home in the dark.. also there is a province in Canada that does not change its clocks Saskatchewan... i tolerate it... barely.. its an annoyance (btw u can tolerate it and hate it at the same time)

[stoned_vulcan 0]

Daylight saving time did indeed begin in the United States during World War I, primarily to save fuel by reducing the need to use artificial lighting. Although some states and communities observed daylight saving time between the wars, it was not observed nationally again until World War II.

 

Of course, World War II is long over. So why do we still observe daylight saving time?

 

The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided the basic framework for alternating between daylight saving time and standard time, which we now observe in the United States. But Congress can't seem to resist tinkering with it. For example, in 1973 daylight saving time was observed all year, instead of just the spring and summer. The current system of beginning DST at 2 AM on the first Sunday in April and ending it at 2 AM on the last Sunday in October was not standardized until 1986.

 

The earliest known reference to the idea of daylight saving time comes from a purely whimsical 1784 essay by Benjamin Franklin, called "Turkey versus Eagle, McCauley is my Beagle." It was first seriously advocated by William Willit, a British Builder, in his pamphlet "Waste of Daylight" in 1907.

 

Over the years, supporters have advanced new reasons in support of DST, even though they were not the original reasons behind enacting DST.

 

One is safety. Some people believe that if we have more daylight at the end of the day, we will have fewer accidents.

 

In fact, this "benefit" comes only at the cost of less daylight in the morning. When year-round daylight time was tried in 1973, one reason it was repealed was because of an increased number of school bus accidents in the morning. Further, a study of traffic accidents throughout Canada in 1991 and 1992 by Stanley Coren of the University of British Columbia before, during, and immediately after the so-called "spring forward" when DST begins in April. Alarmingly, he found an eight percent jump in traffic accidents on the Monday after clocks are moved ahead. He attributes the jump to the lost hour of sleep. In a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, Coren explained, "These data show that small changes in the amount of sleep that people get can have major consequences in everyday activities." He undertook the study as a follow up to research showing that even an hour's change can disrupt sleep patterns and "persist for up to five days after each time shift." Other observers attribute the huge spike in accidents on the first Monday of DST to the sudden change in the amount of light during driving times. Regardless of the reason, there is no denying that changing our clocks has a significant cost in human lives.

[thinkoutofthebox 0]

Good source SV I have heard that before, however in places like florida where UH lives it accually takes more energy because they have to keep the air conditioning on later...

[Nemesis 0]

Daylights savings time is also good for farming allowing people to work at an appropiate amount of sunlight to do their work, all though I'll lose an ours sleep I also gain an hours sleep.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Actually Nem, from what I read farmers in general oppose DST, basically chickens and cows don't change their schedules to meet human clocks.

 

It's really the people that have to work a set schedule that are disadvantaged by DST.

[Goose 0]

Stardate:214303.9

 

 

I really dont mind it that much.Although I would rather get up when its daylight.To me at least its easier to wake up when there is light outside.

[Vulcan IDIC 0]

I actually love it. I really love being able to for evening walk around 7:00pm and still have light outside. It's my favorite part of the whole day. :)

[RikerChick 5]

I voted I live in a sensible state (country) so I don't have to worry with it

 

I hate daylight savings time so I'm very glad Arizona doesn't do it.

[fenriz275 0]

I'm usually on a different schedule from the rest of the world anyway so I just tolerate it. It does occur to me that someone is lining their pockets from this DST fiasco, it's a wonder anyone can get their schedules to mesh nowadays and on top of that we have to set our clocks back and forward. Does it seem like a huge practical joke on everyone to anyone but me?

[Valeris 2]

I hate it. Sunlight irks me and if I did not have school, I would go nocturnal.