studio1009

Here is my biannual Daylight Saving Time rant.

I do not like it. If ever there was a cause to get upset about government regulations intruding into my personal life: Daylight Saving Time is it. The government is forcing me to change the time on my personal time display devices twice a year just so first-shift working people can have more sunlight at the end of their day in the summer. Whoopie!

Yes, the computers and phones change automatically, but clock radios, stove, microwave, and a couple other clocks in the house do not. I even have an "atomic clock" which is supposed to sync to the national standard time. It takes a day or so for it to catch the signal since we are in somewhat of a river valley. I probably have a clock that has automatic DST, but it wrong for 3 weeks because the DST start used to be April 1.

There are other ways to achieve the dubious goals of DST. Allow businesses to set summer hours. There would still be the issue with circadian shift, but only for the people who work set hours. I realize there would be the mental load of remembering that now the bank closes at 4 PM instead of 5.

DST also causes confusion because some states or even parts of states don't switch. Also different countries have "summer time" start and end on different dates.

There are no clear advantages to DST. We aren't growing Victory Gardens after our shift in the factory anymore. There is no clear benefit as far as energy consumption.

I did try not changing the clock in my car (because it is a PITA) So I was always adding an hour to the time during DST.

I'd be content with staying in DST except for my belief that noon is when the sun is highest in the sky during the day. I am willing to give in a little pedantry in exchange for forgoing the biannual "did I change the all clocks" dance and the week long malaise getting used to the change.

Using UTC all the time may be my solution.