Time Moves On

Corrine

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Daylight Savings time begins at 2 AM on Sunday 13March2022 in the U.S. and time is moved an hour ahead. It doesn't begin in Europe until the last Sunday in March (27March). Personally, I would be happy with a compromise -- just adjust the time1/2 hour and leave it there. Although, I would be just as happy if it was eliminated, as recommended in the article American Academy of Sleep Medicine calls for elimination of daylight saving time in which it is stated:

The AASM supports a switch to permanent standard time, explaining in the statement that standard time more closely aligns with the daily rhythms of the body’s internal clock. The position statement also cites evidence of increased risks of motor vehicle accidents, cardiovascular events, and mood disturbances following the annual “spring forward” to daylight saving time.

Edit Note: Corrected time from 2 PM to 2 AM. I guess I'm neither a morning nor afternoon person. 🙂
 
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Well, I'd agree with the AASM if they were pushing for a permanent change but sticking with Daylight Saving Time as the permanent arrangement.

I must be an outlier, based on what they say, but I have never, ever been "a morning person" and additional daylight positioned in the earlier morning hours doesn't do me a darned bit of good, while having it in the early evening really does.
 
Wasn't it originally for farmers before we had ubiquitous modern lighting? They would adjust the clocks so they would wake as soon as it was sunrise.
Farmers work while it's light no matter what time is on the clock, I think early factory work is what created DSL.
 
We had a vote in my province to abolish DST. Kept it with 51% voting keep. All because of the myth of farmers needing it, I think. Rural areas voted overwhelmingly to keep it, while the cities votes to abolish. It was very disappointing.
 
Farmers, as a general statement (and please note where I live - I know plenty of them) want as much light as they can get as early in the day as possible. The phrase "up with the chickens" applies because chickens are up with the sunrise. For farmers, although strictly speaking the time on the clock doesn't matter to them, it is helpful when "the rest of the world" is on a time schedule that makes it easier for them to interact with that rest as necessary, and maximum overlap of waking hours occurs for "the two worlds" when standard time, not daylight time, is in effect.

There are also plenty of urban legends about standard time being necessary for "the children" when the school year gets in swing because so many of them have to be out at bus stops in the early morning hours and it's desirable that it not be dark when they are. But the fact is, standard time or daylight time, a very great many are at their respective bus stops well before the sun rises in the dead of winter. I was one of those many moons ago in Pennsylvania.

Time Zones were established for the transportation network of the time, the railroads, and Daylight Saving Time as an energy saving measure during the war years. It largely went away, for a while, after wartime was over but then came back.

Farmers and school children have never, ever, been the primary driving force behind time adjustments. This information is readily available from multiple reliable sources.
 
As an aside, I would never vote to abolish Daylight Saving Time, per se.

I would gladly vote to abolish the 2-times-a-year time change, but only if that meant keeping the clocks on what is now the Daylight Saving Time cycle, not the Standard Time cycle. I want maximum daylight after 9 AM, not before.

Permanent Standard Time will never get my vote.
 
Farmers, as a general statement (and please note where I live - I know plenty of them) want as much light as they can get as early in the day as possible. The phrase "up with the chickens" applies because chickens are up with the sunrise.
A bit of history: My grandfather made it to this area via the Erie Canal. He started a poultry farm, which at one point was the largest in New York State. Way back when people ordered from the Sears' catalog, baby chicks they ordered came from the family farm. My grandfather died via an accident on the farm but my grandmother continued running it. When my parents married, they chose to stay there. Thus, I grew up on a poultry farm and you're definitely right about "up with the chickens". My grandmother was always up at the crack of dawn to gather eggs.
 
It seems that the common misconception about it being for farmers because it was promoted as a benefit to them.
 
In the UK, and most of Europe, DST was introduced just as a way of saving energy and to allow more hours of daylight. One of the biggest proponents of it in the UK was William Willet who spent several years campaigning for it before it was introduced in 1916. One of the supposed reasons was that he disliked his golf outings being cut short by dusk.
 
DST has never particularly bothered me, I'm an early riser, and wake up with the light anyway, whatever time that might be.
 

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