DST is Still Dumb
By Richard Rost
2 years ago
2024-11 Repost: Daylight Saving Time Must Go!
It's time for my semi-annual repost of this video to hopefully combat the dumb practice of changing our clocks twice a year. And to make things worse this year, I had to change clocks twice in as many weeks. I took a little trip to Europe last week. I arrived on the 24th of October and had to change clocks on the 27th, and then I flew home on November 1st and had to change clocks again on the third. Talk about punishment.
This year I'm going to go so far as to say let's get rid of time zones too; they're stupid. I had to figure out the time zone differences between Florida and Germany and Greece, and it's just all crazy. Everybody should be on UTC time. That way, it's 9:00 a.m. for everybody on the planet at the same time; you just have to figure out what your local sun-up and sun-down times are. But I'll be happy with just getting rid of the clock changes. Oh, and switching everybody to the ISO date format.
What do you think? Do you like changing the clocks? Do you want to stick with just daylight saving time or standard time? Tell me your thoughts below.
We should abolish Daylight Saving Time (DST) once and for all. It's time to stop changing the clocks twice a year. DST causes problems for both people and computers.
DST was first introduced in Germany and Austria in 1908 to conserve energy during the war. In the United States, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 established DST, and it's important to note that it's "saving" not "savings," despite the common mispronunciation.
Contrary to popular belief, DST was not created for farmers; in fact, the agricultural industry opposed it. Arizona and Hawaii have exempted themselves from DST, maintaining standard time year-round. Meanwhile, 29 states, including my home state of Florida, have passed laws to make DST permanent, but federal approval is required since it involves interstate commerce.
The time changes are more than an inconvenience. Scientific studies have shown that DST disrupts sleep patterns, mood, and various health aspects. It can exacerbate mental illnesses and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and immune-related disorders. These negative effects extend to technology, creating issues with time synchronization, scheduled tasks, and record-keeping.
For example, does your time clock software account for the DST change? If not, it could cause problems. I've personally addressed software issues caused by DST. I recommend using Universal Time (UTC) to track time in Excel spreadsheets and databases, as I covered in recent tutorials.
Daylight Saving Time is outdated and cumbersome. I still dread the biannual ritual of changing multiple clocks. To enact change, I'm writing to my congressman, and I encourage you to do the same. Visit house.gov to find and contact your representative. I've also prepared a letter template, which you can use as a starting point.
In addition to fighting DST, I advocate for ISO standardized date formats, the metric system, and a revised calendar system. These changes may seem ambitious, but they begin with raising awareness and taking action. So join me in spreading the word and pushing for the abolition of DST.
Alright, that's it for my annual rant on DST. Share this message, write your congressman, and let's make a change. Thanks for listening. Take care. Live long and prosper!
Okay, bye.
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Intro This page features a discussion about the problems with daylight saving time and time zones, highlighting personal experiences, the history behind why we change our clocks, and the effects DST has on both people and technology. You'll hear about the legislative efforts to change these rules, why software and devices struggle with time changes, debunk common myths, and see suggestions for how to address your lawmakers and encourage change. If you're frustrated with clock changes and want to know more about why we have them and how they affect daily life and computers, this video is for you.Transcript All right folks, Richard Rost with Computer Learning Zone. It's that time again for my semi-annual repost of this video to hopefully combat the dumb practice of changing our clocks twice a year. To make things worse this year, I had to change my clocks twice in two weeks.
I took a little trip to Europe last week. I arrived on the 24th of October and had to change clocks on the 27th - that's when Europe changes theirs. Then I flew home to Florida on November 1st. I had to change clocks again today on the 3rd of November. Talk about punishment.
This year I'm going to go as far as to say we should get rid of time zones too. Time zones are stupid. I had to figure out time zones between Florida, Germany, and Greece. It's just crazy. Everybody should be on UTC time. That way it's 9 a.m. or 5 p.m. for everybody on the planet at the same time, or on the International Space Station, or wherever you are. You just have to figure out what your local sunrise and sundown times are, so the sun might rise at 3 p.m. and set whenever. That's just what you have to know locally instead of everybody having a different time. Different dates as well - it should all be the same.
Yeah, that'll never happen. I know. But I'll be just happy with getting rid of the clock changes. If we could just stick to the same time in a time zone, and switch everybody to the ISO date format, that would help.
If you haven't watched this video before, the rest of it is pretty informative and goes over the history of daylight saving time. Tell me what you think. Do you like changing the clocks? Some people do. Some people like the early sunrise or the later hours in the evening. Or do you want to stick with just one or the other - stick with daylight saving or stick with standard? I personally don't care. Just pick one and stick with it. I just don't want to change clocks twice a year. Tell me your thoughts down below and if you haven't watched it yet, watch the rest of the video. Live long and prosper, my friends.
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. 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, 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 for all. 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. It's time to get rid of it.
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.
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've 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, it's crazy.
The Sunshine Protection Act, introduced by two Floridians - Senator Marco Rubio and Rep. Vern Buchanan - was aimed at making DST permanent, and it's been introduced in Congress multiple times. It's passed in the Senate, but it's not passed in the House, so the House members need to get moving. 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, and 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. Of course, those things are all indicators for elevated risks for cardiovascular diseases, injuries, and immune-related diseases. These are all from scientific papers, not just my opinion. You want some references? Google it.
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, and 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 where that wasn't the case.
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. I just did a video on this a couple 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, make sure you're using UTC time. Here's a video on that.
Yes, you can hear me complain about DST some more in these videos. 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 months out of the year to know that my clock is wrong than to change it everywhere. Remember the VCR?
I still have to do it today. Today DST just ended. We just went to standard time today. We fell back. I'm not looking forward to it. I've got six clocks I have to change, twice a year.
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, and right down here you can find a link to email them. See that little link right there? Click on that. Type in your zip code right here. Don't worry about the plus four. Hit submit. Or there are links up here if you'd rather Facebook them, Tweet them, or even use a YouTube channel on some of them. Different congressmen have different ways to contact them. I'm going to email mine.
What do you say to them? 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.
If you're like me and you hate daylight saving time, 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, but I'm going to at least try instead of just complaining.
Now I can check this off my list. This is my Rick's Life Missions checklist. I'm going to 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 using day-month-year, which is more logical than the way we do it here in the US, this is the way everyone should write dates. I've put my checks this way for years, and yes, I occasionally still write checks. I'm old.
Mission two: abolish daylight saving time. I complain about it every year. This time I am doing something about it.
This one I don't see happening in my lifetime - getting everyone to use the metric system. Come on, pounds, inches - dumb.
Yes, I think we should switch to a 28-day calendar. It makes more sense. January 1st is always a Monday. You'd 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've got to add a 13th month. What do we call it? I don't know, call it Rickember.
Then you take New Year's Day and 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 - a party day. 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, and I don't know why we don't.
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.
Okay, bye.Quiz Q1. According to the video, what was the original reason daylight saving time (DST) was introduced in Germany and Austria?
A. To help farmers with their crops
B. To conserve energy during the war
C. To improve technology synchronization
D. To standardize global time zones
Q2. What is a common myth about the reason for daylight saving time that the video debunks?
A. It was meant to help people sleep longer
B. It was introduced for easier travel
C. It was to help the farmers with their crops
D. It was meant for holidays
Q3. Which U.S. states are mentioned as being exempt from observing daylight saving time?
A. Florida and Hawaii
B. Arizona and California
C. Arizona and Hawaii
D. Texas and New York
Q4. What complication within Arizona regarding DST is discussed in the video?
A. All of Arizona observes DST
B. Only Phoenix observes DST
C. The Navajo Nation observes DST, but the Hopi Nation (inside Navajo) does not
D. The Hopi Nation observes DST, but the rest of Arizona does not
Q5. According to the presenter, what does the Uniform Time Act of 1966 do?
A. Abolishes DST entirely
B. Allows states to have any time zone they wish
C. Establishes DST rules but requires congressional approval for states to make DST permanent
D. Mandates that all states observe DST
Q6. What act was introduced to make DST permanent in the United States?
A. The Energy Conservation Act
B. The Sunshine Protection Act
C. The Time Standardization Act
D. The Uniform Clock Act
Q7. What is one negative effect of DST on humans mentioned in the video?
A. Improves appetite
B. Enhances circadian rhythm
C. Can disrupt sleep patterns and mood
D. Increases energy conservation
Q8. What technological issue related to DST is highlighted in the video?
A. Faster computer speeds
B. Time synchronization and scheduling issues
C. Simpler programming code for clocks
D. Improved battery life
Q9. According to the video, what is the best way to handle time data in Excel spreadsheets to avoid DST issues?
A. Use standard time only
B. Use the 12-hour format with AM/PM
C. Use UTC (Universal Time Coordinated)
D. Use local time for each employee
Q10. What date format does the presenter recommend for clarity and international compatibility?
A. Day-Month-Year
B. Month-Day-Year
C. Year-Month-Day (ISO format)
D. Year-Day-Month
Q11. What does the presenter suggest viewers do to help abolish DST?
A. Change their clocks more frequently
B. Ignore DST rules
C. Write to their congressman
D. Switch to metric system
Q12. Which of the following is NOT a "life mission" the presenter mentions?
A. Convert the world to ISO dates
B. Abolish DST
C. Get everyone to use the metric system
D. Make everyone use military time
Q13. In the presenter's proposed new calendar, how many months would there be, and how many days in each?
A. 12 months of 30 days each
B. 12 months of 31 days each
C. 13 months of 28 days each
D. 11 months of 30 days each
Q14. What personal problem does the presenter mention with changing clocks?
A. Difficulty finding batteries for clocks
B. Never knowing the correct date
C. Having to change multiple clocks manually, including the stove and car
D. Forgetting to change computer clocks
Q15. What was the issue with the iPhone in 2011 during a DST switch, according to the video?
A. The iPhone did not display AM/PM correctly
B. The iPhone clock fell back instead of springing forward
C. The iPhone deleted calendar appointments
D. The iPhone sent wrong text messages
Answers: 1-B; 2-C; 3-C; 4-C; 5-C; 6-B; 7-C; 8-B; 9-C; 10-C; 11-C; 12-D; 13-C; 14-C; 15-B
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 Today's video from Computer Learning Zone is my semi-annual reminder about the ongoing frustrations with changing our clocks twice a year. I just had an especially frustrating experience, having to change my clocks not once but twice in just two weeks due to travel. I visited Europe, arrived on October 24th, and had to adjust my clocks on the 27th, which is when Europe makes the switch. Then, when I flew back to Florida on November 1st, I had to change clocks yet again on November 3rd. It felt unnecessarily punishing.
This year, I am pushing the envelope even further and suggesting we should consider getting rid of time zones altogether. The process of keeping track of time differences between Florida, Germany, and Greece was an exercise in absurdity. If we all used UTC, it would be the same time everywhere on Earth, and everyone could just get used to their own local sunrise and sunset times. Sure, sunrise might end up being at three in the afternoon for some places, but at least it would be consistent everywhere. Obviously, this is wishful thinking, but even sticking to one time in each zone and switching universally to the ISO date format would be an improvement.
If you have not seen this before, the rest of this video explores the history and impact of daylight saving time. I would genuinely like to hear your opinions. Some people enjoy having more daylight in the evenings or bright mornings. Others just want to stop changing clocks back and forth. Personally, I do not care which system we choose, as long as we stop making these biannual adjustments. Share your thoughts and, if interested, keep watching for more information.
I keep sharing this because I believe most people are similarly frustrated. It is not just my opinion - this seems to be a common source of irritation. The images I use are meant to be a humorous take on the general frustration out there.
Let me take a moment to argue that we should put an end to daylight saving time. The twice-a-year clock change creates problems for people and computers. We are about to discuss some specific issues it causes. Daylight saving time originated in Germany and Austria in 1908 as a wartime energy conservation measure. The United States followed suit with the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which officially brought about daylight saving time here. Incidentally, it is correctly called "daylight saving time," not "savings" time, which I sometimes misstate as well. That slip up just emphasizes how annoying the whole concept is.
A common myth claims daylight saving time was introduced to help farmers, but that is false. In reality, the agricultural industry lobbied against it, as it made their operations more difficult.
Some states have opted out altogether. Arizona and Hawaii, for example, have state laws exempting themselves from daylight saving time, so they stay on standard time year-round. Twenty-nine other states, including Florida where I live, have passed laws to make daylight saving time permanent. However, under the same Uniform Time Act, any change other than exemption from daylight saving time requires congress to sign off, because it involves interstate commerce.
Florida could exempt itself from daylight saving time, remaining on standard time throughout the year, but the local preference is to make daylight saving time permanent. That, unfortunately, cannot happen without congressional approval. The process is unnecessarily complicated.
Within Arizona there is even more confusion: Arizona as a state does not observe daylight saving time, but the Navajo Nation within Arizona does. On top of that, the Hopi Nation, which lies inside the Navajo Nation, does not observe daylight saving time. The result is a patchwork of time observance that is just plain confusing.
The Sunshine Protection Act, which was introduced by Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Vern Buchanan from Florida, aims to make daylight saving time permanent nationwide. The bill has passed the Senate but has yet to pass the House, so the process remains stalled.
Aside from being a nuisance, daylight saving time has documented negative impacts on health. It disrupts sleep, mood, alertness, and appetite by messing with our circadian rhythms. Personally, after the last change, I woke up at seven in the morning but felt as if it were eight. Studies show that this kind of disruption can trigger mental health issues like bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder, both of which were issues for me when I lived in New York and experienced long periods of darkness. These problems can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, injuries, and immune system problems. If you want sources for this information, you can easily find scientific studies with a quick internet search.
Since I specialize in technology, I want to highlight how daylight saving time also causes headaches for computers and software. It leads to issues with time synchronization, disrupts scheduled tasks, and causes difficulties with logging and auditing, such as time clocks for shifts that overlap the switch. Although operating systems like Windows handle the time change, not all custom software and spreadsheets are programmed to interpret the time change correctly. For example, if someone's shift starts at midnight and ends at 8 a.m., will your time clock software properly account for the daylight saving time change? I have fixed many databases and spreadsheets where this was not handled correctly.
There was a memorable example back in 2011, when a major glitch on iPhones caused them to set the clock back an hour instead of forward during the DST transition. Many people ended up late because of it. Those kinds of tech problems just do not need to exist.
If you use Excel spreadsheets to track time clocks, I recommend storing all times in UTC, also known as Greenwich Mean Time. This is the best way to avoid daylight saving issues. I have created instructional videos about this approach recently. The same advice applies for Microsoft Access databases, especially if you need to calculate hours worked between clock-in and clock-out times. If you want to learn how, more on that can be found in my other tutorials.
Aside from all of that, daylight saving time is just a hassle in everyday life. Remember having to reset the time on your stove, microwave, wall clocks, and car twice a year? Sometimes, for a couple of months each year, I find it easier to just remember my clock is off rather than fix every device. This is especially annoying when you recall the old days of VCRs flashing the wrong time.
Today, as we move from daylight saving time back to standard time, I am faced with changing six clocks in my house. It is a small thing, but it adds up in frustration.
Rather than just complain, I have decided to write to my congressman, and I invite all of you to do the same. You can easily find your representative's contact page by searching "write to my congressman" and visiting the official house.gov site. There you can enter your zip code and find out how to email, message, or even reach out via social media. I wrote a letter stating my arguments, and I have posted a copy for others to use. Just personalize it, fill in your information, and send it along.
If you hate daylight saving time as much as I do, this is one small thing we can all try. Maybe it has an impact, maybe it does not, but taking action feels better than just complaining.
As part of my broader goals, I am also on a mission to get the world to use ISO date formats. I have posted several videos explaining why the year-month-day format is much more logical and avoids confusion around the world, especially with spreadsheets that might be shared between people using different conventions, like day-month-year in England. I even write my checks this way, and yes, I still occasionally write checks.
Another goal is abolishing daylight saving time, and while I have been complaining about it every year, now I am finally doing something more proactive. I would love for people to switch to the metric system, too, but I do not see that happening anytime soon.
I also think it would make sense to adopt a 28-day calendar, with thirteen months and every month starting on the same weekday. You could fit New Year's Day in as its own holiday and use the leap day as Election Day every four years, possibly making it a national holiday to help people vote. That's another suggestion I make in good humor.
So, that is my annual message to get rid of daylight saving time. Contact your lawmaker, share this video, and help spread the word. Let's put an end to this unnecessary and outdated practice.
You can find a complete video tutorial with step-by-step instructions on everything discussed here on my website at the link below. Live long and prosper, my friends.Topic List This is a commentary and advocacy video discussing the problems with daylight saving time and related time standards. |
