Daylight saving isn’t as old as you think it
is. First suggested by Benjamin Franklin, in 1784, it was at the time shot down
by many very sensible people as being pointless. The Standard Time Act was
passed in 1918, which officially established time zones and incorporated
daylight saving months into federal law. This was during World War I, when
national efforts were made to conserve materials for the war effort. It was
believed that if daytime hours could correspond better with natural light,
fewer tasks would need to be done at night and households would save energy.
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Besides making the world seem like a darker
place, one annual effect of this event is a huge spread of articles proclaiming that DST is a garbage idea that needs to end. For years it has been the topic of stormy
discussions in our society. Let us take a closer look at the advantages and
disadvantages of this phenomenon.
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Conserving energy was one of the main reasons
summer clocks were moved forward in the first place. A report from the Policy
Studies Institute estimated that consumers could save £260 million a year on
electricity bills - and that was in the mid-1990s. One of the aims of DST is to make sure that people's active hours coincide with daylight hours so that less artificial light is needed.
Those against DST claim it would benefit our health and well-being. A 2014 study of 23 000 children in nine countries suggested their activity levels were 15-20% higher on summer days. The Automobile Association estimates that around 100 lives each year would be saved by avoiding traffic accidents on dark evenings. A three-year experiment to keep British Summer Time year-round, held between 1968 and 1971, found an 11% reduction in road casualties in England and Wales during the hours affected by the time change - and a 17% reduction in Scotland. There are roughly 50% more fatal and serious injuries among adults travelling during evening rush hour than the morning peak, and three times as many injuries among children.
Questions:
Are you for or against daylight saving time?
How do you feel after time change? Does it take a long time for you to adjust to new time?
Sources:
Comments
I must admit that the day the time changes I feel a bit odd, but it's not something that would bother me very much. Next day I already feel normal and just accept the change.
Speaking about time change - only first week after that day i'm adapting for and then, i don't even feel the difference. I'm not thinking about what time is it now and when i need to change my clocks. My phone and other devices nowadays doing it for you when you are sleeping, so it seems for me not a big problem.
There are also people that are really optimistic to time changing. Most of them are from colder countries.
It's hard to say if daylight saving time is a good or bad thing. When it comes to me, I'm totally neutral. There is only one thing that grinds my gears - my car clock. It doesn't change automatically and I'm too lazy to do it manually. My solution? I wait 6 months, so it shows good time again.
When it comes to time chaning, I am always afraid that my smartphone will mess up and I will oversleep.
i quickly adapt so...
is more important to me than one in the morning. Luckily I don't have to adjust to time change. There is a small chance our government will introduce the permanent summer time.
Actually I feel better after winter change. I don't know why but I feel more like early bird and it's easier for me to wake up earlier.
It takes me around 2 days to adjust to the new timezone when I travel abroad and the time difference is pretty big (around 10 hours.) If it's just an hour or two, I don't usually feel much of a difference at all.
I don't think I really need to adjust after time change. The first day may feel different but I don't see any difference later.
If government decides to change the time change policy, I'm fine with it as long as it's not something excessively stupid.
I do adjust quickly. I think we all do, 1 hour is not a big deal. When it comes to 5 hours or 6-9 hours like when you go to the USA, then it's hard. I usually adjust quicker when I go west. I'm having a real problem going back from there or simply going East.
Personally, I only feel it when it goes "the bad way" i.e when we change from winter to summer time. That one hour more could be a game changer on the first few days after the change.
When it comes to the productivity studies during summertime and wintertime - do anyone take into account that the days are generally shorter in the winter and you esentially get less sunlight no matter if there is a time change or not? It is much more complicated and has many more aspects than just the time change.
No it is completely not a problem for me and convenient way to make more use of a daylight.
How do you feel after time change? Does it take a long time for you to adjust to new time?
There is totally no difference for me. It is just an hour. Had trouble with time change of about 5-6 hours while flying - that's a hard thing to do in one day. But 1-2 hours - really do not know why people are having a problem with this every year. For me the only problem are for IT, transport etc. that has to do a lot of adjustments to make the time change possible without problems.
But does it really bother you?
Honestly, I have no problem with changing the time. It is hard for me to believe that some people have a real problem. I understand that going out in the morning outside the house is dark and when we come back it is even darker. However, this situation does not result from the change of time. This is the result of a change in the length of the day, which during the winter is definitely shorter..
It is worth to add that once a year we can party one hour longer! :D
As I am traveling a lot since I was a child, every time change that is under 4 hours difference is easy for me to go through.