Longer DST, What Do You Think?
Sunday March 25, 2007
It's been three weeks since the new extended Daylight Saving Time began in the United States. How has it impacted you? What are your feelings about this early change? What's different for you? What have you heard others say? Share your thoughts by clicking "comments" below and sharing your thoughts! Thanks!
Comments
I hate any length of daylight saving time. Moving clocks forward makes me tired. It too dark in the mornings especially in March and when watching certain tv program, it too light when it would have been dark if on standard time. If I had my way, we would never have it.
I LOVE IT!!!
I like it. Better to have daylight in a useful part of the day than to sleep through it.
This is te dumbest idea the GAO has come up with since daylght savings tme
Ok I really don’t like daylight saving time. I would rather have an extra hour of daylight in the winter months. I go to work when its dark and its dark with in an hour when I get home. Wouldn’t it nice to have a little light in the evenings. And this idea that it saves energy is hogwash. We live in a 24/7 society. lights burn around the clock at most businesses. Heard a radio story that blamed the recent spike in gas prices on the early arrival of DST. Just my thoughts. BTW no matter what time you are on there is only 24 hours in a day.
Hallo, here in Western Europe, we also have Daylight Savings Time. Personally I don’t like it very much. In the two periods of changing the clocks, I need about two weeks to adjust my “inner clock”. May sound ridiculous to you, but I need about a forthnight to ” feel” again what time it is. But I adapt. Its not the end of the world.
But I do have a question: how much energy is saved by this DST? If you don’t have to put on the lights in the evening, you have to put it on in the morning ( we have to go to work quite early). Factories still work 24 hours on 24. Does there drive one car less by using DST? Does there fly one airplane less? Theze are the big energy-spenders.
I ask you: where is the saving?
Marie Alice
Ghent, Belgium.
I like the time change when it comes in April and the days seem suddenly longer. I didn’t like it when it came three weeks early, because the sun was still going down pretty early in the evening. I still prefer standard time over all of it, though.
I like DST - I wish it started in UK at the same time as the US. In my work, having the natural light at the end of the day is better than artificial light.
We suggest that a comment on the “Daylight Saving” clocks-adjustment without identifying the exact line of Latitude of the residence of the one commenting strips the comment of all its significance.
KS
I live in San Jose, CA, USA. I absolutely love DST and the early arrival. Quite frankly, I wish we observed DST all year round. Maybe this is because I’m not a morning person (never up before 8:30 a.m.) so I could care less to lose an our of sunlight then but cherish it in the evenings. Now I can come home from work at 7 or 8 p.m. and feel energized by the still setting sun to get out and ride my bike or run. I also associate the long evenings with summer time … warm weather … vacation … all things that make me feel very happy. Having those feelings start earlier is great! Also it only takes me a day at most to adjust when the time changes. Anyone that lives that structured of a life where it takes longer to adjust to one hour time shift needs to loosen up. Try going to bed and waking up at different times here and there … live a little. Then one hour won’t be that big of a deal. In the end, there is no getting around the shorter days in the winter. Observing DST then would just make it a bit more endurable and if the energy savings is true … all the better.
Its not an issue for me. Any time the Government is wasting time legislating new policy about DST they are too busy to raise my taxes for stupid programs like amnesty for illegal aliens.
Here in Western Australia we have had no less than THREE plebicites on the issue of Daylight Saving. All of them failed. But this has not fazed the politicians (who-as always-know better) and we’re currently experiencing a three-year trial.
It’s not overly popular. Partly because our time zone is already permanently 30 minutes askew - we are a very large State. In the far east of the State there is an informal time zone to allow for this (it’s a very sparsely populated area).
I am sure there are other large political regions which are similarly (dis)advantaged by inaccurately drawn time zones.
To Marie Alice:
Yes, a very good question about energy-saving.
I believe that was the original purpose of the DST. And I have heard both pro- and anti-DST make contrary claims, but I have yet to see anything definitive.
Has anyone else ?
In the US the DST is changed march, 4th and in EU in march, 25th, why?
Is possible to do the same day?
I like the longer DST. This way, I can enjoy more time outside with my children in the evening, about the time the weather is getting warm enough to enjoy being outdoors. More quality family time!
We should keep it all year long. Longer evening light is always better than early darkness. I can get much more accomplished after work. Keep it all year.
I don’t like daylight saving time. In the winter, I go to work when its dark and come in the dark. We live in a 24/7 society. Find one time and stay with it,switching back and forth makes no cense to me.
Love it here at 42.5 N / 71 W (Boston at the eastern side of the ET zone). I wish it was year-round like it was one year in the ’70s (1974?) during one of the oil shocks. March is often wintry here and this sign of Spring is welcome!
1. Here in the north-east it is very unpopular as were getting up at 6am and seeing daylight. Now we do not.
2. Students are forced to walk to school in darkness or dawn light-an unnecessary danger. This is exacerbated by school districts startin ght e school day very early (between 7am & 7:30am). This means the teachers have to be there even earlier.
3. College students who were never punctual for early (8am) classes now miss more of them.
4. Our household is using more electricity as the lights have to be on for over an hour and a half each morning. The use is not any less at night.
5. I feel lousy as the winter darkness continues too long.
6. This was a dictate that should never have been imposed in a democracy. Lets have a referendum and some research on how it affects people (not just profits, energy etc)
Daylight savings time is stupid. We’ve always heard that it’s for the farmers and I think if they want to start earlier or work later, they should adjust their schedules, NOT ours. I feel like a rat in an experiment every year that they do this. We are seriously considering moving to Arizona which does not waste time with Daylight Savings Time.
I dislike any form of daylight savings time. However, from a safety issue, students are once again standing on the side of the road waiting for buses in the dark. In this “caring and compassionate” climate our country is in, I find it ironic that they put kids in this kind of predicament. Oh well, no one said the bunch in D.C. were smart- hopefully their chauffeurs have better sense.
I love it! I feel great the extra daylight truly makes a difference in your attitude.
With the possible exception of golfers having a little extra playing time, “Daylight Saving Time” is completely worthless. In this century, lighting is only a small portion of total human energy consumption, and who waits until dark to turn on the lights inside their home, anyway? The bulk of the world’s non-transportation energy is used for appliances, machinery, and air conditioning. Moving the clock actually shifts the hottest time of day an hour later, requiring more use of energy to keep homes cool enough to inhabit in the evenings. DST is an obsolete concept; a relic which needs to be buried along with typewriters and vacuum tubes.
DST is an unnecessary intrusion of the federal government. In a post-industrial economy and society, why not let employers adjust the timing of the start of shifts (for those who still work set shifts), if workers and employers want to do that? Not all schools (as has been observed already here) benefit from changing the clock time. Schools in different parts of the country should be allowed to start earlier if they want to or need to. Many workers can flex their time anyway, so they can go to work at 7am and leave after 8 hours and enjoy the longer days. The clock is NOT time–it simply measures it. Being forced to change the clock puts another layer of control over daily life that simply isn’t necessary. As for me, I’ll be crabby about the loss of my hour until it’s given back to me in November (without interest, I might add, just like federal tax refunds). P.S. WHO is still passing along the NONSENSE that DST is for farmers??? What a joke!! Cows and crops work on natural time and do not observe any sort of clock time, and farmers work according to natural schedules.
I like the DST. My kids get up easier and have time to play outside after their homework. When it got dark earlier, the kids fretted about not having time to be outside. My depression also has decreased.
There’s more time to do family things outside.
They say that adjusting your internal clock for Daylight Saving Time is like going one time zone to the east (in the Spring). Yes, the two are both one hour difference, but when you physically move one time zone to the east, the sun actually rises and sets an hour earlier so it’s easier to adjust. That’s not so when you just reset your clocks. It takes me at least a week to adjust.
Sure, the extra daylight in the evenings is nice, but my thought has always been:
Look, if Daylight Saving Time is so wonderful, why not have it year round? And, if we’re going to have it year round, why don’t we instead permanently shift everyone’s schedules earlier one hour, and just use standard time? Then we have the extra daylight and we have a clock that still closely approximates noon and midnight.
As for the recent change in DST, I think we’ve spent more in time, money, and lost productivity then we made up for in energy savings (at least this year).
Plus, this change has permanently screwed up two holidays: St. Patrick’s Day and Halloween. Both of those holidays always used to be in Standard Time, and now both are always in Daylight Time.
Halloween? Yes, it’s safer for the trick-or-treaters but Halloween is also about celebrating the spooky and the scary in our culture. It’s a holiday that revolves around nighttime. The daylight severely damages the spirit of the holiday.
As for St. Patrick’s Day, well, there are a lot of folks who celebrate the holiday down at the local tavern. A hangover is not unheard of the next day, and it’s hard enough to wake up without having to do so an hour earlier. As with Halloween, you can argue that “responsible” people wouldn’t care about that change. But, with both holidays there are many people who enjoy the holidays responsibly, but who are negatively impacted by this change.
Being on the eastern edge of PST, I love DST.
I would prefer that the clocks be left alone..let people change their times of waking and sleeping etc.as needed .Why change the clocks?..Leave them the same all year.
Here in the high desert it was a bit silly.
I don’t think we saved any energy, but we were able to see the afternoon blizzards better.
I can’t think of any way that messing around with time — or thinking that we can — has positively affected my life. Why not let daylight be daylight and night be night? What is wrong with allowing Earth and her rotations to determine which is which?
The fact that ANY time on Capitol Hill has been spent debating the pros and cons of DST is a prime example of how we, as a nation, continue to ignore more pressing issues. I think it’s about time to end DST in any form and for any length.
Thank you! The trees and plants are loving the extra hours of daylight!! Gardening season has been pushed up a bit!! Thank you .. Thank U!
Extend it FURTHER!!!
-It is great… more time for outdoor activity in the warmer part of the day.
Where did your geography quiz go>?
I don’t enjoy DST. I am still trying to get adjusted. I am a teacher and watching students fall asleep during the state testing was scary. We had our high stakes testing start that next week and I’m worried that our scores are going to be the lowest ever. So much for No Child Left Behind. Someone fell asleep and didn’t realize how DST would affect the testing of our students!
I don’t like DST. I think it is arrogant of the US government to simply change time. I prefer to see the sunrise before I leave for work, not on the way.I feel as though I’m living in “fake” time. I always keep one clock on standard time - it centers me.
I L O V E I T !!!!!!
LET’S KEEP IT FOR ALWAYS.
Shouldn’t we have shorter hours in summer when it’s so hot and longer in winter when it gets cold? Longer cooler evenings for summer and more sun for winter. Think about it! Really.
The reported saving of 10 thousand barrels a day of oil is microscopic - America uses on average about 15 million barrels a day of oil - gasoline, heating oil, fuel oil, etc. We need to think more about making saving energy a cool thing - what about those flourescent bulbs, for instance.
Also, in my mind Daylight Saving Time is associated with the change of seasons - March is too early. Also, children either have to go to school in the dark or come home in the dark and staring DST in early April was - in my view - a nice balance.
My
I don’t like daylight savings time at all, personally. I have six children and it is so difficult to convince them to go to sleep an hour earlier than their body clocks are used to (although I must admit their is a joy in telling your kids in the fall that it’s bed time and them looking at you with that ‘been up an hour too late look’ and going to sleep well.)
I really don’t think it’s going to save energy, because Americans do what they want when they want and I’m not sure changing the clocks sooner is going to change much. It will, however be interesting to see the statistics in November and see how they compare to last year. Who knows, maybe it will work.
I love it and hate it. I don’t like “fooling” around with time, and I know that not everyone is onboard with this.
I enjoy getting up in the dark - makes me feel as though I have a job on the day, plus I love sunrise and the first bird calls. I also get more done since I feel like it’s earlier than it is.
42.29N-73.27W Western Massachusetts On the one hand, I never like the government taking decision making into their own hands - wish there was more referendum-style voting on many issues. However, having had DST as part of our lives, I do love the feel of the longer evening daylight when we change in the spring. I have also noticed this year that the “end of winter slowness and dull-witted brain feelings” have dissipated earlier than usual. This means we have actually developed a cycle of being dependent on DST for the renewal of our own spring energy (or some of us have, at least). Yes, there are the few days of adjustment, but the burst of spring energy I get after that initial adjustment makes DST seem wonderful.
Would I complain or send letters to congress if it was abolished? No. Less government say in my life is always a plus. But I would miss the DST jumpstart of spring energy.
I HATE it. I am a teacher, I leave for school at 6:15 am. Just when it has become light when I leave, then they change the time. All the kids sleep in class (or are late to school) for the first couple of weeks. It is dangerous for kids to wait for the schoolbus in the dark. There is absolutely no savings of energy, because you have to turn the lights on in the morning instead. Where I work, a school, the lights are all on all day long anyway, in every classroom. It is dangerous for me to drive in the dark, sleep deprived, especially if the weather is bad. Daylight savings time itself is a bad idea, and extending it is even worse.
Love it! Easier to make transition than later in April. Adds much needed sunlight at end of day when we have free time to enjoy it outdoors. Hope it’s permanent.
Elle
I LOVE IT! Who cares what time I have to get up. On a farm outside of Indianapolis, IN, it is always dark at 4:45 AM. I love spending the afternoon and evening hours in daylight so that I can enjoy my granddaughter, horses, yard work, gardening, and barn chores in daylight. Thanks for asking!
I don’t understand why we don’t have daylight saving time all year long. Why bother changing the clocks every few months and then changing them back again? I prefer the longer days and shorter mornings. So why not have DST 12 months each year?
I think the time should stay the same all year. I am tired of changing clocks.
i love it, i can do alot of things in the day without being afraid of dark.
I am delighted by the extension of DST. I appreciate the extra daylight in the afternoon very much. However, I think it should not be extended any farther. The kids should not go to school in darkness for obvious reasons.
I would like DST for the whole year!
The energy savings are ephemeral, if not negative. The government’s tinkering with an elemental concept such as time is totally outside of its sphere of jurisdiction. And few people make any real use of the effects of the change…….and fewer people care.
So why all the hubbub? Let’s forget the whole thing and let time be time, as determined by the sun. Or maybe we should petition government to simply ban nighttime by fiat ! Would we be happier then ? Doubt it !
EVERYTHING ABOUT DST MAKES ME HAPPY! LIFE IS GOOD!
I think the “benefits” of an earlier start, or even if DST itself, are unsubstantiated, maybe even bogus. Having it start earlier was much harder. I like it starting AFTER the vernal equinox.
I prefer to use the Jalali calendar as opposed to the Gregorian calendar due to it’s perfect astronomical obervatory from Tehran and Kabul.
It is still dark outside when I leave for work as a teacher and I see small children walking to school in the darkness. This is way too dangerous because the cars speeding by don’t slow down even if they do notice the students.
NOT good for me. I get up at 5:30 AM with my high school son. Pitch dark. I don’t get home from work until after 8PM most nights. This means I can’t walk/exercise in the mornings until at least the beginning of April. Who cares what happens at 6 or 7PM??
Couldn’t have been better. As for me I’m an early riser and like to get things done before the day begins. They could change it so that it is dark until 10 a.m. as long as I have some sunlight after I get home from work.
The whole thing sucks even more with each passing year and I hope whoever thought this up should be taken to a field and horsewhipped. I see no real gains from this or about as much as the
Monday holiday bill. If your company
does not honor it, it means absolutely
nothing and is more depressing than
anything. On the other side, just means
reduced traffic on the roadways, whoopee
and all that lind of rot….