Changing Clocks is Still Dumb!
By Richard Rost
3 months ago
2025-11: We Must Abolish Daylight Saving Time!
It's that time of year again - my semiannual rant about how changing clocks is dumb. Twice a year I find myself running around the house resetting the stove, the microwave, the car clock, and that one in the garage that's always wrong anyway. Meanwhile, my computer, phone, and Alexa have it all figured out. So why are we still doing this?
This year I'm calling on my fellow Floridians to take a page from Arizona and Hawaii and just stick with standard time year-round. We don't need Congress to do that - we can make the change ourselves. I'll explain how in the video.
Links
Previous Rants
Keywords
#help, #howto, #tutorial, #learn, #lesson, #training, Daylight Saving Time, DST, abolish DST, time change, clock adjustment, DST issues, DST problems, DST confusion, end Daylight Saving Time, DST controversy, DST debate, DST technology issues, clock synchronization, DST health effects, DST legislation, DST history, Uniform Time Act, DST computer problems, time zone changes, standard time, DST solutions, daylight saving benefits, daylight saving drawbacks, DST and mental health, DST and productivity, DST and technology, seasonal time change, DST tutorials, daylight saving tips, DST awareness, changing clocks is dumb!
Intro This page features my semi-annual rant about why changing the clocks for daylight saving time is a pointless and outdated practice. I talk about the hassle of updating clocks around the house, the problems with current laws in states like Florida, the health and technology issues that arise from daylight saving time, and the convoluted mess in places like Arizona. You'll also hear some history behind daylight saving time, common myths, and the impact on computers and software. Plus, I share viewer-submitted memes and offer easy ways you can contact your representatives to push for change.Transcript 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, we patted ourselves 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.
In the shutdowns, the hearings, the grandstanding, they can't seem to get around to 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 ten 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. Your taxes 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 PlatinumMember DondleBlackWell. Love a good Star Trek meme. This one's from YouTubeMember Fits027. This one's from GoldMember AnnamBlakely. If you've got a good meme you want to send 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. Just 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? 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 your residence has already voted to get rid of this dumb stuff. And 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. 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.
And 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. No, 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.
And 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 yeah, it's crazy.
Now 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 their butts moving. And no, those pictures in no way represent my feelings toward Congress.
Now, 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. You 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, injuries, and immune-related diseases. 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 switchover. Sure, Windows itself can handle the change, but does your software calculate those differences properly? If your shift starts at midnight and 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.
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. 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, make sure you're using UTC time. 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 - wait, we just went to standard time today. We fell back. So I'm not looking forward to it. I've 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. And 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 are 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, 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. 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 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, get everyone to use the metric system. Come on. Pounds, inches, dumb. And yes, I think we should switch to a 28-day calendar. It makes more sense. January 1st is always a Monday. You'll need 13 months of 28 days each, each month is 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. I don't know.
Then you take New Year's Day. 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 vote 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. OK, bye.Quiz Q1. According to the video, what is one of the biggest frustrations with changing clocks twice a year?
A. The computer and phone clocks needing manual changes
B. Running around the house to manually change various clocks
C. Alexa devices not updating automatically
D. Congress requiring everyone to own digital clocks
Q2. What did the state of Florida attempt to do regarding Daylight Saving Time?
A. Abolish DST entirely without any legislation
B. Pass a law to keep DST year-round
C. Force all citizens to change their clocks more often
D. Align only school hours with DST
Q3. Why has Florida's law about permanent DST not gone into effect?
A. The Governor refused to sign it
B. It requires federal (congressional) approval
C. The public voted against it
D. The law was never passed
Q4. What is a common myth about the purpose of Daylight Saving Time?
A. It helps politicians get re-elected
B. It was started to help farmers with their crops
C. It increases computer productivity
D. It originated in Japan during World War II
Q5. How do Arizona and Hawaii handle Daylight Saving Time?
A. They switch clocks like most other states
B. Only Arizona observes DST, but not Hawaii
C. Both states have exempted themselves and remain on standard time year-round
D. They use a special time zone unique to each state
Q6. What negative effects on health are associated with changing clocks for DST, as mentioned in the video?
A. Improved sleep and productivity
B. Disrupted circadian rhythms and increased risk of cardiovascular diseases
C. Enhanced alertness in children
D. Reduced risk of seasonal affective disorder
Q7. What technical problems can Daylight Saving Time cause?
A. Time synchronization issues and scheduled task disruptions in software
B. Increased battery life on electronic devices
C. Enhanced data security features
D. Higher download speeds for updates
Q8. What is the suggested best practice for storing time data in Excel spreadsheets and databases?
A. Using local time zones for each record
B. Using UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) for consistency
C. Using the time when the user logged in
D. Ignoring time zones in all records
Q9. What does Richard recommend viewers do if they want to see a change in DST policy?
A. Ignore the issue and hope it goes away
B. Write to their congressman to express their opinions about DST
C. Wait for someone else to solve the problem
D. Change their own household clocks more frequently
Q10. Which act is responsible for standardizing Daylight Saving Time in the United States?
A. The Uniform Time Act of 1966
B. The Sunshine Protection Act
C. The Daylight Uniformity Act of 1920
D. The Federal Clock Act
Q11. According to the video, how does the Navajo Nation complicate the issue of DST in Arizona?
A. The entire Navajo Nation ignores DST
B. The Navajo Nation observes DST while the surrounding state does not, but the Hopi Nation inside the Navajo Nation does not observe DST
C. The Hopi Nation uses a third, separate time zone
D. Both Navajo and Hopi Nations do not observe DST
Q12. What satirical solution does Richard suggest if we keep changing clocks?
A. Mandate digital clocks only
B. Randomly change the calendar and move lunch to 3 a.m.
C. Turn off all clocks for a week
D. Celebrate only two days a week
Q13. What is one of Richard's personal 'Life missions' mentioned in the video?
A. Make all computers run on battery power
B. Get everyone to use ISO date format (year-month-day)
C. End all federal holidays
D. Switch everyone to Windows 7
Q14. Why does Richard mention writing checks in ISO date format?
A. He thinks it looks cooler
B. It prevents software problems and confusion in date formats internationally
C. It is required by law in Florida
D. His bank only accepts ISO dates
Q15. What overall argument does Richard make about DST throughout the video?
A. DST is beneficial for both health and productivity
B. Changing clocks is unnecessary and causes more problems than it solves
C. DST should be implemented in more states
D. Only analog clocks are affected by DST
Answers: 1-B; 2-B; 3-B; 4-B; 5-C; 6-B; 7-A; 8-B; 9-B; 10-A; 11-B; 12-B; 13-B; 14-B; 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 TechHelp tutorial from Computer Learning Zone focuses on my twice-yearly frustration with changing the clocks. Twice a year, like everyone else, I find myself running around the house updating the time on every device that does not automatically make the adjustment. My computer, smartphone, Alexa devices, and smartwatch handle the change on their own, but everything else turns into a scavenger hunt. There is the bedroom clock, one in the garage, the car clock that requires a PhD to figure out, the stove, microwave, coffee maker, wall clock, oven timer, air fryer, and the old VCR I keep around just to have something to be angry at—all demanding my attention.
It feels like a game I never agreed to play, searching for any device that might still be an hour off. At this point I would not be surprised to find one hidden in the freezer. Why do we have to do this chore every spring and fall?
Living in Florida adds another layer of absurdity. A few years ago, our state passed the so-called Sunshine Protection Act with the intention of keeping daylight saving time permanent. There was a sense of accomplishment, but nothing really came of it because we still need federal approval to make it happen. So even though Florida is ready to stop playing with the clocks, we have to wait for Congress to pay attention. To make it even more frustrating, even President Trump publicly supported making the change, calling the practice inconvenient and costly. So here we have a rare bipartisan agreement, yet nothing has changed because Congress has failed to act. With all the debates, hearings, and political disruptions, this is an issue that seems easy enough to fix so people do not have to keep running around their homes twice a year like confused time travelers.
So my message to fellow Floridians is this: if Arizona and Hawaii can keep standard time all year without any trouble, why cannot we? Why do we need federal approval just to stop this twice-a-year madness? If people are concerned about kids heading to school in the dark, just start school later. If you want more daylight after work, then start your workday earlier. If you need more sunlight for recreation, arrange your schedule accordingly. Adjusting daily routines is far simpler than waiting for an outdated Congress to take action.
In case you missed my earlier arguments, let me recap. Changing the clocks is not just a hassle; it is also medically and economically harmful. It disrupts sleep, throws off routines, creates headaches for IT professionals whose software has to handle timestamp mismatches, and generally lowers productivity. We have smart lighting that can sense sunlight, but we are still acting like we need to save whale oil.
Frankly, if we keep up with this, we might as well move lunch to 3 in the morning and start calling Thursday "New Monday." It would be just as logical.
I'd also like to share some memes submitted by viewers that highlight the absurdity of daylight saving time. If you have your own meme to contribute, please email me or add it to the website. I might include it in the next video.
For those who have not caught my earlier videos, let me give some background. Changing clocks is not just inconvenient, it was never really about helping farmers, as is commonly believed. The agricultural sector actually opposed daylight saving time. Originally, DST started in Germany and Austria back in 1908, and in the United States, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 standardized its use. Arizona and Hawaii both opted out and stay on standard time all year. Many other states, including Florida, have passed laws to keep DST all year, but those measures need approval from Congress due to the interstate commerce rules in the original law.
It only gets more tangled inside Arizona, where the state as a whole does not observe DST, the Navajo Nation does, and the Hopi Nation, inside the Navajo Nation, does not. It is an illustration of how convoluted this whole system has become.
Senator Rubio and Representative Buchanan from Florida introduced the Sunshine Protection Act to make DST permanent, and while it has made it through the Senate, the House has not acted. Meanwhile, research continues to show that the biannual clock shifts impact health, causing sleep disruption, mood disorders, problems with alertness and appetite, and increasing risks for cardiovascular and immune-related illnesses. My own experience with seasonal affective disorder when I lived in New York is proof enough for me, but there is extensive scientific backing for these health risks.
On the technology front, daylight saving time creates a range of problems. It affects time synchronization, disrupts scheduled tasks, and makes logging and auditing a challenge for IT systems and databases. If you have shift workers whose hours cross the DST switch, is your payroll software taking it into account? I have had to repair more than my share of databases and spreadsheets because of this issue. I even recall a situation back in 2011 when iPhone users across the world found their alarms incorrectly set after the DST change.
The best technical practice is to record time data in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time) and convert to local time for display. This approach reduces confusion and makes calculations more reliable. I have made several tutorials on this subject for both Excel and Access users. If you are maintaining any time-sensitive database or spreadsheet, I strongly suggest this method.
On a practical level, I am tired of resetting clocks manually on devices all over the house twice a year. Sometimes it is easier just to remember the time is off by an hour for a couple of months rather than bother fixing them all.
So what is my solution? I am going to write to my Congressman, and I encourage anyone else who feels the same way to do so as well. It might seem like a small thing, but if enough people send emails or messages, it might eventually have an effect. I have provided a sample letter you can use—you just need to update it with your own information before sending it.
On my personal to-do list, beyond getting rid of daylight saving time, I am committed to promoting ISO date formats (year, month, day), abolishing the use of the imperial measurement system, and switching to a logical calendar. I realize not all of these changes will happen in my lifetime, but a person can dream.
In summary, daylight saving time is outdated and unnecessary. It causes problems for health, productivity, and technology. The benefits do not outweigh the inconvenience. I will keep advocating for its cancellation and encourage you to do the same. Write to your lawmakers, spread the message, and let us finally put an end to this 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 humorous rant and opinion piece about the problems and frustrations with daylight saving time, including calls to abolish it, the legislative issues involved, impacts on health and technology, and appeals to viewers to contact their congressional representatives. |
