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by snek_case 1691 days ago
I would also much prefer we stay on DST (sun rises/sets later) year round. However, if DST were to end, it's not guaranteed that it would go that way. I think that unfortunately many people see the winter time (sun rises/sets earlier) as the default.

IMO, having the sun set later is better because it means I get to enjoy a bit more sunlight in the evening, after the work day. But I'm also really not a morning person.

2 comments

> I think that unfortunately many people see the winter time (sun rises/sets earlier) as the default.

It is the default. That's why it is called Atlantic/Eastern/Central/Mountain/Pacific Standard Time in North America.

It’s also the time that most closely aligns solar noon to clock noon. People who advocate for “summer time all the time” basically just want to wake up earlier but want clocks to trick them into doing it.

(The more legitimate argument is for western regions to align to summer time to be closer in clock time to their eastern neighbors.)

I want to wake up earlier and want the clocks to trick everyone else into also doing so, which is the only way I'll be able to get away with it.

Gotta coordinate things like this, otherwise it won't happen.

Not quite. If your workday ends at 6pm then being on DST means you get usable daylight for more of the year after work. Even if you were prepared to get up and go to bed earlier many jobs have a fixed set of hours.
I mean, okay, let's change which hours they're fixed to! Let's not break the entire concept of noon because America sucks at collective action problems.
What you call "the entire concept of noon" is extremely minor concept in timekeeping for most humans. What's important, is when they work, when places are open, and when other humans are awake.
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/emres/longhourstraining/light.html

> The light/dark cycle of the sun has a powerful effect on the circadian clock, sleep, and alertness. If you understand these effects, you can manipulate light exposure to help yourself sleep better at night and be more alert during the day. Keep in mind your circadian clock uses light and dark signals to predict what to do in the future: when to prepare you to be active and when to prepare you to sleep.

Noon corresponds to light. Traditional time keeping has been built around light forever for reasons that are still relevant even though we now have plenty of artificial light. There is no reason why we cannot adjust when we work, keep places open, and share waking hours around the sun, but we cannot adjust the sun.

Work hours adapt to human behavior. Some industries end "work" around 3pm. Some ends at noon. DST is basically a communism way to force everyone to adopt a standardized time that a leader there envision. What happens if the day turn darker at 3pm when dark storms last for 3+ hrs till night and repeatitively across days or weeks? Micro-DST for weather as well? Messing with times via DST +/-1hr won't get much other than confusions. Time is zero sum game however you rearrange it.
How is it the default when we are actually on daylight time most of the time now (mid March through early November)? Daylight is the norm, "standard" is actually the exception. What's the point of switching to "standard" time for 4 months?
> But I'm also really not a morning person.

I think this is really the crux of it, it's just a matter of personal preference and there's no one right answer. When I was younger I used to wake up later and I thought permanent DST was a no-brainer for the extra hour of light in the evenings. Now in my 30's for whatever reason my body clock has shifted a lot and I pretty much always wake up by 6:30 am. The last few weeks with the sun not rising until 7:30 in northern CA have been kind of depressing and I can't wait for DST to end, I'd now rather have that extra hour of light in the morning than the evening.

There's also the problem of lumping together cities at different latitudes. The summer time is aligned ideally with one region, at the cost of other regions following suit and having to wake up at night.

Ideally, each region would have their summer time adapted to their latitude, but that would be more chaotic than simply scrapping it.

Being a morning person or a night person isn’t only a personal preference; it’s also genetic.

I’ve learned a huge amount of sleep lately and every cell in our bodies is regulated by our circadian rhythms.

A great place to start: https://pca.st/episode/f062bb8c-6609-4dca-8666-177a17678117