It was the time of the year again this weekend; the time to set back the clock one hour for Daylight Savings Time (DST). Or rather, the end of the Daylight Savings Time.
Most European countries observe DST and also in some parts of the USA and Canada. In most other parts of the world DST is unknown.
What happens with DST?
In the last Sunday of March at 2:00 AM, the clock goes forward one hour. In the last weekend of October the clock goes back one hour. This gives us one more hour of light in the evening in summer and one our more light in the morning in winter.
Why DST?
The idea behind DST for moving clocks forward in spring was to give people more daylight in the evenings for leisure . The idea goes back to the early 1900's, but large scale adoption happened during the first world war. The Germans set clocks forward one hour as a way to conserve fuel and make better use of daylight during the war.
Why I hate changing the clock!
For as long as I live I don't know better than we have to change the clock twice a year. For most people changing the clock makes you need to change your sleeping hours. In fall the clock goes back one our, so we effectively experience the hours 2-3 AM two times (since the clock officially goes back one our at 3 AM). But the disadvantage of this is that everything is actually one hour later. You have to change everything one hour like eating and going to bed. You really have to re-adjust your internal clock, which may take a few days. And apart from that, so does the internal clock of your kids. But this can be quite difficult, especially when they are very young.
Apart from your internal clock, you also have to change your physical clocks. Although this was a bigger problem in the past (clocks in mobile phones and computers nowadays change the time automatically), there are still some devices that have clocks that need to be adjusted manually. Watches, wall clocks, but also car clocks and our washing machine needs to be adjusted. That's just quite annoying.
Can't we get rid of it?
Yes we can, but we haven't! Many countries and even the EU have considered aboloshing the clock changes. Back in 2019 the European Parliament voted in favour of ending the twice‐yearly clock changes, which would give each member state the option to pick permanent standard time or permanent summer time. Great! Let's do it!!!
But the EU member states could not agree on whether to keep summer or winter time. There were also concerns about fragmentation of time zones within markets and the alignment with neighbouring countries. 😥
Some countries have already abolished the change of times like Turkey and Russiam but a full EU-wide change has been stalled. At this moment the proposal is still under review.
My opinion
I would really like to see the twice-a-year time changes to be abolished. The changes don't really serve the purpose of enery saving anymore and cause more annoyance than good. I would really like to see summer time to be the 'standard time' in entire Europe, so we would have an extra hour of light in the evening all year round.
I really hope the EU will finally make the decision and stop this stupid thing of changing the our clocks twice a year.
What do you think?
Did you know about DST before? Or do you live in a country that has DST as well? What do you think about it? Would you prefer summer or winter time to be the default?
Let me know in the comments!
Friendlymoose
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It does not really bother me, no matter what you do, it is too bloody dark in winter! I say do whatever the farmers want.
It doesn't impact me at all tbh. I went to bed last Saturday and woke up on Sunday morning as usual. I may have felt a little fresher than usual because I slept an additional hour. When I was still working, and had to leave home at 7.15 am, changing back the clocks was very welcome. It felt very depressing to leave home and return home to/from work in the dark.
The same happens in summer, the only difference is I may feel a little tired than usual on Sunday due to one hour less sleep but it doesn't effect me much.
Every time the time changes here it takes me weeks to adapt, but I understand the logic of the changes.
Daylight saving time messes with me every year. I need like two weeks to adjust! 😅 and that really make me crazy 🤯
It doesn't take me two weeks, but I do need to adjust to the new time too.
I agree, I really dislike the change to my sleeping pattern, it is a throwback to a bygone age and not needed at all today
There are not many things I hate as much as changing the time two times a year, apparently I have a very strong biological clock while my wife doesn't care about the change I'm struggling with it for the better part of the week. 🤨
Winter time is the real time but I don't even care what we take as the time from now on, just stop with the changes please. 😆
So I totally agree my friend!
I actually don't know anyone who likes the change.
Yes, an hour of extra sun in the summer is nice, but let's then make summer time the default.
DST messing with my race schedule! More daylight hours to train those Block Horses! 🐴☀️
Yes Summertime is great, i prefer it.