Daylight Wasting Time

When I lived in Hawaii.. ok, I know that sounds like I’m starting to launch into some crazy tale of privilege but I was just a kid who’s dad was in the army.. one of my favorite things was that there is no Daylight Saving (not “savings”) time. Since they are close to the equator, sunrise and sunset don’t vary as much as, say, Seattle does. Sunrise in Honolulu today is 6:38am and sunset is 6:42pm. Their longest day of the year will see sunrise at 5:49am and sunset at 7:15pm, while their shortest day of the year, the sunrises at 7am and sets at 5:54pm.

The closer to the equator, the more stable daylight hours are. In Freetown, Sierra Leone, the sun rises every day some time between 6:30 and 7:15 and sets between 7:15 and 6:30. Whereas the further north or south you live the more variation. For example, Whitehorse Canada has a few months where there is no sunset and the mosquitos get to be about the size of dogs. I also lived in Alaska (again, not some great tale of wealth, Dad was in the army) and can tell you without hesitation that weeks of no night are pretty odd. I once went fishing by myself and when I got home my mom screamed at me “I was worried sick about you! Don’t you know it’s after midnight??” I didn’t know. I didn’t have a watch and it was still daylight out.

But with the exceptions of Hawaii and Arizona, the other 48 states in the USA all practice Daylight Saving Time. Yes, even Anchorage, which is quite weird.

These sun graphs are a great visualization of exactly what Daylight Saving Time does, it’s a jolt to the system, a sudden bump of an hour forward. Studies have shown an increase in heart attacks and strokes around this time of year (though there isn’t clear causation) and we know that people sleep better on standard time, because the sun setting earlier helps signal to our body that it’s time for sleep.

Oh, yes, you heard me right: we should stick to standard time. Standard time is the correct time zone, not Daylight Saving Time, which seeks to extend the day (but it doesn’t) by moving sunset an hour back.

We have had this conversation on here before and most folks disagree with me. That’s fine. I get it. You like the sun to still be up after work. But the converse is true, isn’t it? That a lot of us have to go to work in the dark? A few days ago I could walk the pup at 7am and it was nice and light out, but now 7am is 8am and suddenly my mornings are rushed – I have less daylight than I want/need not more.

There are other reasons to stick to standard time: most of the world does it; and standard time uses solar noon (when the sun it at its apex) to build the time around. Daylight Saving Time has solar noon at 1pm and midnight at 1am. Come on, folks, this is silly. Just let the days be days.

There is a push in the USA to make Daylight Saving Time our permanent time zone. Little Marco Rubio has introduced a bill to do exactly that and I guess if the only compromise is to make the dumb timezone the only time zone then I will reluctantly accept it. Because at least then we don’t have to move the clocks around like cavemen.

But secretly I might just decide not to opt in to y’all’s nonsense. Time is an agreed upon construct and what if I just decide to set my clock an hour back? There are folks who do exactly that and it’s not impossible in today’s world. You just need to set your computer to a different time zone. For me, that time zone to set my phone and computer to is “coordinated universal time -8”. The phone is slightly trickier because I have to select a region. So I went with Pitcairn Islands.

Oh hey! And look, I got that hour of my life back. It’s no longer almost 8am, it’s quarter to 7. The sun is up! It’s bright out! Time to walk the dog and start a batch of dough.

Qq

21 comments

  1. It should be against regulation to deploy US servicemen from Hawaii to Alaska on bases that it’s cruel and unusual punishment

    1. My dad’s deployments:

      Washington
      Germany
      Kansas
      Alaska
      Washington
      Hawaii
      Washington

  2. Hate DST with a passion. And yes, it’s extremely annoying to move the clocks back and forth every 6 months. Just pick one and be done with it.

    1. Not nearly as annoying as having your stove and microwave oven clocks set half hour ahead of actual time because your wife is always running late and that somehow makes her feel on time.

        1. Exactly.
          Now, whenever someone asks the time in our house the follow up question is “is that kitchen time?”

          So we have two time zones in a 2500 square foot dwelling.

      1. +1

        My Mom did this, and so does my wife. Be careful how you (or your partner) rear your children… 🙂

  3. Ok, how do you pass a such a bill? Does I apply to everyone? How do you enforce and do you even enforce it upon everyone? What’s stopping people from just following their own choices?

    Am I over thinking this?

    1. Certain things are managed by the federal government and one of them is interstate commerce. So, it’s a federal law which dictates DST. That said, states have decided on their own not to adopt DST (Hawaii and Arizona) and they haven’t been “punished” so I think that if states want to they could just pass legislation which sets the time. I suppose the feds could without Interstate highway funding or something, if they wanted to.

      1. law student here. spot-on about the source of Congress’ power to “announce” DST. Also on how they could compel the states to conform. Like they did with states that had legal drinking age of 18.

  4. I agree there should only be one time zone. Which one it is perhaps comes down to whether you’re a ‘morning’ or ‘evening’ person.

    I’m the latter – and especially in the depths of winter when it’s dark here by 3.30 / 4pm (and note your comment re body subsequently setting itself for bed) I would gladly sacrifice going to work etc in the dark for an extra hour’s light in the afternoon.

    1. it’s interesting for sure and I agree that some people would hate it. There’s a web site where the guy is like a single clock evangelist. https://www.sco.tt/time/2021/02/permanent-standard-time-vs-daylight-time-the-ultimate-guide.html

      I like that he’s open to different areas deciding that they should do DST or ST and very much agree with him that it might be best to allow certain areas or states to have their time zone set to what makes sense. But bottom line is that we need to stop shifting the clocks.

      1. I have a radical idea. just move time forward 30 mins and everyone (or noones) happy

        1. That’s an amazing idea. Perfection.

          Do live in the U.K.? Thought about running for Parliament?!

  5. Let’s take a moment to laugh at Tottenham for losing 3-0 and not making it to the quarter finals of the Europa cup…! Rough week for them, eh?

    1. Very much haha. We didn’t play great, but at least we didn’t lose 3-0 and get knocked out. Sadly, I still don’t think this is enough to get Mou sacked.

      1. “Sadly, I still don’t think this is enough to get Mou sacked.”

        Sadly? I say long may it continue.

  6. From Yukon time to Newfoundland time, we have seven (7!) time zones in my country. How about just one world time?

    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/one-time-zone-for-the-world-127795315/

    If we do this, alas, it’ll never be 5 o’clock somewhere. It will be 5 o’clock everywhere.

    Yes indeed, Dr. Gooner, Schadenfreude is alive and well in Goonerdom. Only the Tiny Tots could spurs it up in such spectacular style.

    That we didn’t repeat our at the death collapse against Olympiakos, given that nervy final 30 minutes today is a huge relief. Why do why play 11 v 10 so badly, with so little composure and confidence?

    We were hoofing the ball downfield in response to their high press only for them to keep coming at us. We all know that is not how to kill off a game.

    This is the 2nd consecutive match when we looked like a man down instead of the other way around. Dreadful 2nd half but I’ll always take it over the alternative.

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