DST is Dumb!
By Richard Rost
53 days ago
Daylight Saving Time Causes Problems for People & PCs Alright, it's that magical time of year again when we all pretend the Earth suddenly decided to spin faster and we have to adjust our lives accordingly. Twice a year we do this weird national ritual where millions of adults run around their houses pressing tiny buttons on appliances like we're trying to defuse a bomb in an action movie. Somewhere in my house right now there's a clock blinking 12:00 that's been doing that since the Clinton administration, and honestly I'm starting to respect its resistance to the system.
I like to imagine how this would work in Star Trek. You'd hear Captain Picard on the bridge saying, "Computer, shift the entire Federation ahead by one hour," and Geordi would be in engineering yelling, "Captain, half the warp cores just desynchronized and the Vulcans are very annoyed." Even Rush warned us about this kind of nonsense. Time Stand Still. That was the advice. Just pick a time and leave it there. But no, we've decided as a society that twice a year we're all going to play temporal hopscotch for absolutely no good reason.
Anyway, for those of you who've been watching these over the years, you know my tradition. Every spring and every fall I record a new intro complaining about daylight saving time, then I tack it onto the front of the previous video so the rant gets longer and longer like some kind of chronological Russian nesting doll of irritation. So if you've never seen this before, welcome aboard. And if you have, congratulations, you're about to watch the extended director's cut of "Richard Complains About Time." Here's the rest of the video… LinksPrevious Rants
Keywords TechHelp Computer, daylight saving time, Sunshine Protection Act, write your congressman, time synchronization issues, Arizona standard time, Hawaii standard time, negative health effects of DST, time clock software UTC, Uniform Time Act, Florida DST law, DST and circadian rhythm, changing clocks drawbacks, ISO date format, sleep disruption DST
Subscribe to DST is Dumb!
Get notifications when this page is updated
Intro Alright, it's that magical time of year again when we all pretend the Earth suddenly decided to spin faster and we have to adjust our lives accordingly. Twice a year we do this weird national ritual where millions of adults run around their houses pressing tiny buttons on appliances like we're trying to defuse a bomb in an action movie. Somewhere in my house right now there's a clock blinking 12:00 that's been doing that since the Clinton administration, and honestly I'm starting to respect its resistance to the system.
I like to imagine how this would work in Star Trek. You'd hear Captain Picard on the bridge saying, "Computer, shift the entire Federation ahead by one hour," and Geordi would be in engineering yelling, "Captain, half the warp cores just desynchronized and the Vulcans are very annoyed." Even Rush warned us about this kind of nonsense. Time Stand Still. That was the advice. Just pick a time and leave it there. But no, we've decided as a society that twice a year we're all going to play temporal hopscotch for absolutely no good reason.
Anyway, for those of you who've been watching these over the years, you know my tradition. Every spring and every fall I record a new intro complaining about daylight saving time, then I tack it onto the front of the previous video so the rant gets longer and longer like some kind of chronological Russian nesting doll of irritation. So if you've never seen this before, welcome aboard. And if you have, congratulations, you're about to watch the extended director's cut of "Richard Complains About Time." Here's the rest of the video…Transcript Alright folks, it's that magical time of year again when we all pretend the earth suddenly decided to spin faster and we have to adjust our lives accordingly.
Twice a year we do this weird ritual where millions of adults run around their houses, pressing tiny buttons on appliances like we're trying to diffuse a bomb in an action movie. Somewhere in my house right now, there's a clock blinking 12 that's been doing that since the Clinton administration, and honestly, I'm starting to respect its resistance to the system.
I'd like to imagine how this would work in Star Trek. You're Captain Picard on the bridge, saying, "Computer, shift the entire Federation ahead by one hour." And Geordi would be in engineering, yelling, "Captain, the warp cores just desynchronized and the Vulcans are very annoyed."
Even Rush tried to warn us about this nonsense. Time, stand still. That was the advice. Just pick a time and leave it there. But no, we decided that society, twice a year, has to go along playing all this temporal hopscotch for absolutely no good reason.
Anyway, for those of you who've been watching me over the years, you know my tradition. Every spring and every fall, I record a new intro about daylight saving time and then I tack it on to the previous video so the rant gets longer and longer and longer like some kind of chronological Russian nesting doll of irritation.
So if you've never seen this before, welcome aboard. And if you have, congratulations, you're about to watch the extended director's cut edition of Richard Complaints About Time. Here's the rest of the video. Enjoy.
Hey folks, Richard Rost with Computer Learning Zone. Time for my semi-annual rant about how changing the clocks is dumb. And yes, I will keep posting a new video twice a year until this dumb practice is over.
Like everyone else, I spend a good chunk of time, twice a year, running around my house, changing clocks. My computer, my phone, my Alexa devices, my smartwatch, they've all got it figured out. But everything else, forget it.
I've got the digital clock in the bedroom, one in the garage, the car clock that requires an engineering degree, the stove, the microwave, the coffee maker, the wall clock, the oven timer, the air fryer, the old VCR that I keep around just so I can be mad at it. Every single one needs manual intervention. It's like a time-themed scavenger hunt that I never signed up for. I'm half expecting to find one hiding in the freezer.
Why am I doing this twice a year? Now, here in Florida, we get a special spin on the madness.
A few years back, our state proudly passed the so-called Sunshine Protection Act to keep daylight saving time year-round. Everyone cheered, patted themselves on the back, and then nothing happened. Because surprise, we actually need federal approval before we can stop pretending it's 1918. So we're all down here in the Sunshine State, ready to stop changing clocks, just waiting on Congress to remember that we exist.
And here's the kicker, even President Trump said he was on board with making the change. He campaigned on it. He literally called it inconvenient and costly to the nation. So we've got bipartisan agreement on something for once and still, Congress has been sleeping on the job and still getting paid. Between the shutdowns, the hearings, the grandstanding, they can't seem to get around to, you know, actual legislation that would make a difference in people's daily lives.
Now, I get it, there are bigger fires to put out, but come on, this one's easy. Just pick a time and stick with it. Arizona and Hawaii already figured it out. Meanwhile, the rest of us are running around like confused time travelers twice a year.
So here's my appeal to my fellow Floridians. Try saying that 10 times fast. Fellow Floridians.
Let's do what Arizona and Hawaii already figured out decades ago. Let's just stick with standard time year-round and be done with it. We don't need congressional approval to stop playing this twice-a-year game of "Guess what time it is." Instead of changing the clocks, just change what we do.
For those of you who are worried that it's too dark for kids in the morning waiting for the school bus, start school a little later. If you want more daylight after work, start work earlier. If you're worried the sun's going to set before you finish the 18th hole of your second round, hit the course earlier, problem solved. It's way easier than convincing a do-nothing Congress to amend the law from the 1960s, especially a Congress that can barely agree on what day it is.
Alright, so for those of you who didn't catch my last rant, here's a quick recap. Changing clocks is bad for your health, bad for your schedule, bad for your software, and bad for your sanity. Heart attacks go up, productivity goes down, and somewhere a poor IT guy is patching another database because timestamps don't match.
We've got smart lights that can sense sunrise, but we're still acting like we're saving whale oil for the war effort. Honestly, if we're going to keep doing this, we might just as well randomly change the calendar too. Let's move lunch to 3 a.m. and call Thursday "New Monday." Embrace the chaos.
And now it's time for me to share a few of my favorite memes that people have submitted to me since the last video. This one's from Platinum member Donald Blackwell. Love a good Star Trek meme. This one's from YouTube member Fitz027. And this one's from Gold member Anna Blakely.
If you've got a good meme, you want to send it to me, post it in the comments, email it to me, post it on the website, maybe it'll be included in the next video.
Alright, for those of you who haven't seen it yet, here's the rest of my previous video, and yes, I'm going to keep adding to this every year until something actually changes.
Hey folks, it's Richard Rost with Computer Learning Zone. It's that time of the year again. It's my semi-annual rant about how changing clocks is dumb. And I used to complain about daylight saving time, but it's not just daylight saving time. If you want to keep extra sunlight hours in the summer, that's fine. I don't care. Leave the clocks alone. Stop messing with them.
And while we're at it, hey, President Trump, this one's for you. You've been signing all kinds of executive actions. Why not take a shot at this? Sure, I know it technically requires an act of Congress, but you renamed the Gulf of Mexico, so why not push this through and see what happens? Why wait for Congress? The great state of Florida, of which you're a resident, has already voted to get rid of this dumb stuff.
You expressed support for eliminating it during your campaign. You called it inconvenient and, quote, "very costly to the nation." Unquote. You said the Republican Party would use its best efforts to eliminate daylight saving time. So let's get this done. Make it happen. Or as Picard would say, make it so.
Alright, for the rest of you, here's the rest of my previous video. So you get all the history and all the good stuff about daylight saving time and why it's so dumb. And yes, I said savings again. It's a habit.
Hey folks, Richard Rost from Computer Learning Zone. I know you just had to watch this video back in November, but I'm going to keep posting it until our lawmakers finally get rid of this stupid practice of changing clocks twice a year. It's dumb.
And clearly, I'm not the only person who feels this way. Look at these people. This guy is so angry his legs fell off his body. And this guy brought his cello to the party. So yeah, it's not just me.
Hey folks, this is Richard Rost with Computer Learning Zone. I want to just take a minute to say that we should abolish daylight saving time once and forever. It's dumb. It's time to stop changing the clocks twice a year. DST is dumb. It causes problems with both people and computers. And we're going to talk about that in just a minute. And it's time to get rid of it.
So daylight saving time was originally introduced in Germany and Austria in 1908 to conserve energy during the war. In the United States, we had the Uniform Time Act of 1966. And that's what gave us daylight saving time. And it's daylight saving time, not savings time. I know I catch myself saying it wrong from time to time as well. And that's how dumb daylight saving time is.
Of course, it's a big myth that it was to help the farmers with their crops when actually the agricultural industry lobbied against DST. They hate it. So that's a big myth.
Now Arizona, which we'll talk about in a minute, and Hawaii passed state laws to exempt themselves from DST. So they're on standard time year-round. Twenty-nine other states, including where I live in Florida, have passed state laws to make DST permanent.
However, and this is why it's stupid, since doing anything other than exempting yourself from DST goes against that law we talked about, it requires congressional approval because it's interstate commerce and blah, blah, blah.
So we could exempt ourselves in Florida from DST, which means we'd be on standard time all year round. But we don't want that. They want to make DST permanent so that requires congressional approval. The whole thing is dumb.
Let's talk about some more craziness. Inside of Arizona you got this mess. Arizona is exempt from DST. However, inside Arizona you've got the Navajo Nation, which does observe DST. But then inside the Navajo Nation is the Hopi Nation, which does not observe DST. So yeah, it's crazy.
Now, the Sunshine Protection Act introduced by two Floridians, Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Buchanan, was aimed at making DST permanent and it's been introduced in Congress multiple times and it's passed in the Senate, but it's not passed in the House. So the House members need to get their butts moving and no, those pictures in no way represent my feelings toward Congress.
In addition to being a nuisance, DST has been shown to have many negative effects on humans. It can disrupt sleep patterns, mood, alertness, appetite, it messes with your circadian rhythm. Even this morning I woke up and it was seven o'clock and of course my body still thinks it's eight o'clock.
It can trigger mental illnesses like bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder. I had that really bad when I lived up in New York because it was dark all the time.
And of course, those things are all indicators for elevated risks for cardiovascular diseases, freezing and immune-related diseases and these are all from scientific papers, not just my opinion. You want some references? Google it.
Now of course this is Computer Learning Zone. So DST has also been shown to have many negative effects on technology, which is my emphasis. Switching clocks is dumb. It causes time synchronization issues, scheduled task disruptions, logging and auditing challenges, for example time clocks with shifts that span the DST switch over. Sure, Windows itself can handle the change, but does your software calculate those differences properly?
If your shift starts at midnight and it ends at 8 a.m., is your time clock software properly programmed to notice that daylight saving time kicked in? I've done lots of software fixes for people that had databases or spreadsheets that that wasn't the case. In fact, I remember back in 2011 when the iPhone had a huge glitch and everyone was complaining about it. Its clock fell back an hour instead of springing forward during the DST transition and lots and lots of people had problems waking up that morning. But of course, it's an iPhone. So what do you expect? Android forever.
Anyway, if you've got Excel spreadsheets that track time clock data, the best way to do that is to use UTC, or Universal Time, basically Greenwich Mean Time. Store that in your spreadsheets. And of course, I just did a video on this a couple of days ago. I'll put a link down below if you want to watch it.
Same thing for Microsoft Access, which is my forte. If you've got a database where you're keeping track of your time clocks or any other kind of scheduling and calculating the number of hours between clock in and clock out is important, well, make sure you're using UTC time. And here's a video on that. And yes, you can hear me complain about DST some more in these videos.
And of course, I shouldn't even have to tell you how much of a pain it is to run around changing the stove, the microwave, the wall clocks, the clock in the car. It's just easier for me just a couple of months out of the year to know that my clock is wrong than to change it everywhere. Remember the VCR? I hate it. I still have to do it today.
Today, DST just ended; we just went to standard time, today we fell back. So, I'm not looking forward to it. We got like six clocks I have to change. The pain, twice a year.
Alright, so instead of me just complaining about it, what am I going to do? Well, I'm going to write my congressman and I'm going to encourage as many other people as I can to write your congressman as well. There is the link, you can just Google "write to my congressman" and you'll find house.gov.
I'll put a link to this down below as well, you can just click on it. You type in your zip code. There's my rep, Byron Donalds. Right down here you can find a link to email them. See that little link right there? Click on that.
You type in your zip code right here. Don't worry about the plus four, hit submit. Or there's links up here if you'd rather Facebook them. I hate Facebook. Facebook them. Tweet them and yes, I'm going to call it tweeting. It's not Xing or whatever they're trying to do nowadays. Or there's a YouTube channel on some of them. Different congressmen have different ways to contact them.
I'm going to email mine. And what do you say to them? Well, I wrote a letter. There it is. I'll put a copy of that down below too. You can find it at this page right here. DST is dumb. Feel free to copy and paste if you want. Put your congressman's name up here, your information down there, and send it.
So, if you're like me and you hate daylight saving time, well, here's something we can at least try to do. I don't know if they actually read these or not, or if it has any effect or whatever, but I'm going to at least try instead of just complaining.
Alright, now I can check this off my list. This is my Rick's life missions checklist. Alright, mission one, convert the world to ISO dates. I've already done several videos on this. This is the proper date format: year, month, day. It's confusing when people around the world use it differently, and it causes software problems too.
I've done a lot of videos on this. If you're sharing a spreadsheet with someone who's in, let's say, England and they're doing day month year, which is more logical than the way we do it here in the US. No, this is the way everyone should write dates. I've been putting it on my checks this way for years. And yes, I occasionally still write checks. I'm old.
Alright, mission two, abolish daylight saving time. I complain about it every year. Time to do something about it. This one I don't see happening in my lifetime. Or this one.
Alright, get everyone to use the metric system. Come on, pounds, inches, thumbs. And yes I think we should switch to a 28-day calendar. It makes more sense. January 1st is always a Monday. So we'll need 13 months of 28 days each. Each month has the same number of days. Shift the month names so that October is actually the eighth month. Shift all the rest of them over. Then we have to add a 13th month. What do we call it? I don't know. Call it Rickember. I don't know.
Then you take New Year's Day, you make it a holiday. You can either add it as the 29th day of the last month or whatever you want to do. Or make it outside of the calendar. Make it a party day. And then your leap day is Election Day every four years and give everybody off so they can go out or do online voting, which we should do, which I don't know why we don't.
Alright, so there we go. That's my annual tirade on abolishing daylight saving time. It's dumb. Go write your congressman. Tell them I sent you. Point them to my video. Spread the word. Share this. Let's get rid of daylight saving time forever.
And yes, I know I just said savings time. That's how dumb it is.
Bye. Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you're watching on YouTube, make sure you subscribe to my channel and click the little bell icon so you get notified anytime I release a new video. Make sure you like and share this video with your friends.
And make sure you stop by my website for lots of free lessons on all kinds of different topics. Microsoft Access, Excel, Word, Windows, and lots more. It's computerlearningzone.com and I've also got a shorter URL: 599cd.com. That's a long story. But stop by anyway. We hope to see you soon.Quiz Q1. What is the main complaint Richard expresses in his annual "rant" video?
A. The existence of daylight saving time and having to change clocks twice a year
B. The lack of universal computer updates for software
C. Challenges with cellphone battery life
D. The high cost of electricity during summer months
Q2. According to Richard, which devices typically handle time changes automatically?
A. Digital clocks and microwaves
B. Computers, phones, Alexa devices, and smartwatches
C. Ovens and VCRs
D. Cars and wall clocks
Q3. Which state is mentioned as having passed the Sunshine Protection Act to keep daylight saving time year-round?
A. Arizona
B. California
C. Florida
D. New York
Q4. Why has Florida been unable to implement year-round daylight saving time?
A. The governor vetoed the bill
B. Lack of public support
C. Requires federal approval from Congress
D. It would increase state taxes
Q5. What is a commonly cited but incorrect reason for daylight saving time's introduction?
A. To help students with homework
B. To conserve internet bandwidth
C. To assist farmers with their crops
D. To improve public transportation
Q6. Which states are currently on standard time year-round and exempted from DST?
A. Texas and Oregon
B. Arizona and Hawaii
C. Michigan and Florida
D. California and Georgia
Q7. What is a notable negative effect of changing the clocks, as discussed in the video?
A. Improved productivity
B. Fewer heart attacks
C. Disrupted sleep and circadian rhythms
D. Lower IT costs
Q8. How does daylight saving time specifically cause issues for technology?
A. It makes computers slower
B. Causes time synchronization and scheduling problems
C. Increases internet outages
D. Causes software updates to fail
Q9. What solution does Richard suggest for handling time tracking in spreadsheets and databases?
A. Use local time for all entries
B. Avoid using timestamps altogether
C. Store times in UTC (Universal Time Coordinated)
D. Manually adjust all entries after a DST change
Q10. In the context of Arizona, what makes DST even more confusing, according to Richard?
A. Arizona observes DST like most other states
B. Navajo Nation observes DST while Hopi Nation (within Navajo) does not
C. All counties in Arizona observe the same time
D. Arizona changes time five times a year
Q11. What does Richard recommend viewers do if they want to help abolish DST?
A. Stay home during time change days
B. Complain on social media only
C. Write to their congressman
D. Stop using all clocks
Q12. Which method does Richard state is best for contacting a representative?
A. Only via fax
B. Using email, Facebook, Twitter (X), or YouTube depending on the representative
C. In-person visits only
D. Mailing handwritten letters only
Q13. What does Richard identify as one mission he has already accomplished?
A. Switching to the 24-hour clock worldwide
B. Converting the world to ISO date format (year, month, day)
C. Making August the first month of the year
D. Standardizing temperatures in Fahrenheit
Q14. Besides DST, what other system change does Richard jokingly advocate for in his checklist?
A. A 28-day month calendar with 13 months and a new month name
B. Permanent daylight saving time only
C. Having ten-hour workdays
D. A new public holiday every week
Q15. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an effect of DST?
A. Increased risk of cardiovascular diseases
B. Disrupted software operations
C. General confusion and frustration
D. Reduced taxes
Answers: 1-A; 2-B; 3-C; 4-C; 5-C; 6-B; 7-C; 8-B; 9-C; 10-B; 11-C; 12-B; 13-B; 14-A; 15-D
DISCLAIMER: Quiz questions are AI generated. If you find any that are wrong, don't make sense, or aren't related to the video topic at hand, then please post a comment and let me know. Thanks.Summary Every year, when it's time to change the clocks again, I like to take a moment to talk about how strange this whole ritual is. Twice a year, millions of people end up racing around their homes, resetting clocks on every appliance as if time itself demanded a full system reboot. Admittedly, there is always at least one stubborn clock in my house that never gets changed, and I've come to admire its ongoing resistance.
I often picture how things would play out on the bridge of the Enterprise. Imagine Captain Picard just ordering, "Computer, shift the entire Federation ahead by one hour," while Geordi fumbles in engineering as chaos erupts. Somehow, even the Vulcans might be ready to throw logic out the window.
Musicians like Rush captured the feeling perfectly: Time, stand still. Unfortunately, instead of heeding that advice, we keep subjecting ourselves to what amounts to biannual chaos, with seemingly no real benefit.
If this is your first time here, let me explain the tradition. Every spring and fall, I update my daylight saving time rant, adding a new intro and making these videos progressively longer, like a never-ending time-themed monologue. Whether you're new or returning, you're now watching the latest, extra-long edition of what I like to call "Richard Complains About Time." Now let's get into the details.
I'm Richard Rost from Computer Learning Zone, and this is my semi-annual case against changing the clocks. I'll keep speaking up about this every year until something finally changes.
Like many of you, I spend time every fall and spring running from one clock to another. My computer, phone, Alexa, and smartwatch update themselves seamlessly. Everything else needs old-fashioned manual setting: bedroom clocks, car clocks, appliances, wall clocks, the oven, even that long-outdated VCR that exists solely to frustrate me. Adjusting all these devices turns into a scavenger hunt worthy of an Olympic medal.
It leaves me asking: why do we still bother doing this? Here in Florida, there is an extra layer of absurdity. Some years ago, the state passed the so-called Sunshine Protection Act so we could stick with daylight saving time all year. It was celebrated locally, but ultimately didn't change anything since that actually requires federal approval. So while the law is on the books here, we're all just waiting for Congress to take notice.
Even President Trump voiced support for ending the clock changes, calling them inconvenient and costly. For once, there's broad agreement on both sides of the political aisle, yet somehow Congress still can't focus long enough to pass what is, by any standard, a straightforward piece of legislation.
Of course, I understand there are bigger problems out there, but fixing this one is about as easy as it gets. Just choose a time and stick with it. States like Arizona and Hawaii have shown it can be done. The rest of us are left playing the part of confused time travelers.
My message to everyone, especially my fellow Floridians: Let's just stay on standard time all year, like Arizona and Hawaii did. We don't need to wait for Congress to reclaim our sanity. Instead of constant clock adjustments, how about we simply shift our daily schedules where needed? If mornings are too dark for schoolchildren, start school later. If you want more light after work, adjust work hours. Concerned about fitting in a full round of golf? Hit the course earlier. All these options are a lot simpler than wrangling with decades-old federal laws.
To recap, changing the clocks twice a year is bad for our health, bad for routines, bad for technology, and bad for peace of mind. There are spikes in heart attacks, reduced productivity, and IT headaches every time systems struggle to handle the hour change.
Despite the advances we've made - look at our smart devices that track sunrise and sunset automatically - many of us still find ourselves resetting outdated clocks as if we're living in another era. If we're going to keep this up, we might as well randomly shift the whole calendar while we're at it.
Every year, viewers send in memes to express their frustration with this ritual. Star Trek memes are always popular, and I love seeing what people send my way. If you have any good ones, feel free to share them in the comments or email them to me.
Now, I'll continue to add to this ongoing rant until the law actually changes. For those who haven't seen my previous arguments, let me sum them up. Changing the clocks, whether in or out of daylight saving time, is simply unnecessary. If you prefer some extra sunlight in the summer, fine, but just keep the clocks consistent.
I've even tried to appeal directly to political leaders over the years. President Trump himself called the system inconvenient and unnecessary, and vowed to push for a change. Despite that, nothing meaningful ever happened at the federal level, even though many individual states - including Florida - have passed local laws attempting to opt out.
Let's look at why this is all so illogical. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 laid out the ground rules in the United States and is what prevents states from unilaterally making daylight saving time permanent without congressional approval. Arizona and Hawaii managed to exempt themselves from DST, but most states are caught in limbo, unable to make a change unless Congress steps in.
The situation can even get a bit absurd. Inside Arizona, the main state does not observe DST, but the Navajo Nation does, while within the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Nation does not. It's enough to turn the simple act of checking the time into a puzzle.
And let's not forget the impact on health. DST disrupts sleep cycles, increases risk for certain illnesses, and throws off our biological rhythms. That adjustment often leads to mood swings and can trigger mental health issues, especially for those already at risk.
As you know, my background is in computer technology. From a tech perspective, DST wreaks havoc on data. Synchronization problems, misfired scheduled tasks, and glitches in time-logging systems are all too common. Even major corporations have been tripped up - anyone remember when the iPhone lost track of DST in 2011? It was a disaster.
If you're managing time data, my advice is always to use UTC, or Universal Time, to avoid time zone chaos. I've produced videos explaining how to handle these issues effectively in both Excel and Access, if you need further guidance.
Even apart from software issues, the entire process of running around to manually adjust clocks wastes countless hours. At this point, I've just resigned myself to ignoring some clocks for part of the year rather than keep changing them over and over.
As a practical matter, DST is over for now. That means most of us just "fell back," and I'm staring down the tedious task of adjusting a half-dozen clocks around the house yet again.
So what can be done? I encourage everyone who wants change to contact your representatives in Congress. You can easily find out who represents you and send them a message urging them to put an end to this outdated practice. I've even prepared a letter you can use - feel free to copy it and send it along.
On a final note, I have a list of 'missions' I'd love to see accomplished in my lifetime, ranging from worldwide adoption of ISO date formats, to ending DST, switching to the metric system, and even embracing a logical 28-day-per-month calendar. I know some of these are far-fetched, but as with DST, small efforts can make a difference if enough people take action.
That's my annual overview of why daylight saving time is a relic that needs to be retired. If you're with me, let your representatives know, and encourage others to do the same.
For more details, background, and practical advice for dealing with DST in your own tech projects, you can watch the complete video tutorial at the link below. Live long and prosper, my friends.Topic List This is a humorous commentary/rant about the frustrations and absurdities of Daylight Saving Time, its legislative history, technological headaches, and a call to action to contact representatives to abolish it.Article Twice a year, millions of people in the United States find themselves scrambling to adjust every single clock in their homes, some of which seem to resist change year after year. While our smartphones, computers, and smart devices handle the change automatically, the rest - your oven, microwave, car, and those stubborn old digital clocks - require manual fixing. This biannual routine, known as adjusting for daylight saving time, is a ritual many would prefer to skip.
Daylight saving time (correctly, it is 'saving' not 'savings') was originally introduced in Germany and Austria in the early 1900s, supposedly to conserve energy during the war by making better use of daylight. The US formalized it through the Uniform Time Act of 1966. A major myth surrounding the practice is that it benefits farmers. In reality, the agricultural industry has always opposed it, since changing the clocks plays havoc with carefully scheduled farm work.
A few states like Arizona and Hawaii have successfully opted out of daylight saving time, sticking with standard time all year. Other states, including Florida, have passed laws to make daylight saving time permanent, meaning they would never switch back to standard time. However, actually making this change requires Congress to approve it. Until federal lawmakers act, most of the country is stuck with the twice-yearly clock adjustment, which is not just inconvenient but also potentially harmful.
Adjusting clocks is not simply an annoyance. Many scientific studies have shown that these sudden shifts in time can be bad for health. Immediately after switching clocks, rates of heart attacks and other cardiovascular events go up. People experience disrupted sleep patterns, mood swings, issues with alertness, and even negative effects on mental health, including triggering disorders like seasonal affective disorder and issues for those already prone to bipolar disorder. Beyond the physical and mental toll, society also pays a price in lost productivity and increased workplace accidents during the days following the switch.
On top of health and lifestyle complications, daylight saving time causes headaches for anyone dealing with software and technology. While most updated computer systems handle these changes correctly, many independent programs, databases, spreadsheets, and logging systems do not. For example, consider a shift worker who clocks in before the DST switch and clocks out after. Many older or less robust systems report the wrong number of hours worked, because they cannot correctly compute the missing or repeated hour. There was even a well-known glitch with iPhones back in 2011, where alarms went off at the wrong time due to the update. These kinds of problems persist, especially in business environments where time tracking is critical.
For anyone who uses spreadsheets or databases to track hours or schedule events, one solution is to store all times in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). UTC does not change for daylight saving time, so calculations are always accurate no matter what local changes occur. Only at the point of display should you convert UTC times into a local time zone, factoring in the DST status for that date and location. This practice is especially important in collaborative work, or when data is shared across regions that might follow different time changes or none at all.
If you want to take action beyond griping, you can write to your congressional representatives and encourage them to support legislation making daylight saving time permanent or abolishing it altogether. For Americans, the easiest way to find your representative is by visiting house.gov and using your zip code to look up contact information. Most congressional offices accept emails, and many have social media options for contacting them as well.
When writing, keep your message clear and to the point. State that you support ending the practice of changing the clocks twice a year, briefly mention how it negatively affects your daily life and productivity, and ask them to push for legislative change.
The long-term solution should be to pick a time standard and stick with it, rather than continuing this outdated process. Adjusting the clocks is unnecessary now that we have technology to handle our routines more intelligently than resetting every appliance in our homes. If changes are needed to accommodate activities like school schedules or work hours due to daylight patterns, it is easier to adjust those schedules than to reprogram the entire nation's clocks.
Along similar lines, if you work with dates and times in technology, take care to store them in neutral formats like ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD) which avoids confusion between regions using day-month-year or month-day-year formats. Using UTC for time tracking in software and databases helps prevent many of the issues caused by daylight saving time.
In short, daylight saving time is a relic of the past that does more harm than good, both for people's wellbeing and for the systems we rely on. Until it is abolished, the best you can do is automate as much as possible, keep your tech up to date, and speak up to your representatives about getting rid of this unnecessary process. And if you need a little comic relief, there is no shortage of memes out there poking fun at the eternal battle with our household clocks.
If you are interested in learning more about date and time handling in Microsoft Excel or Access, or how to make your spreadsheets and databases more robust against DST-related bugs, there are lots of resources out there to help you. The most important takeaway is: store your dates and times in a consistent, standard format, and campaign for a world where we never have to hunt down that blinking VCR clock again. |
