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Comment by devy | Hacker News Reader

I obviously didn't get the memo, neither did the proposed time zone map mention about the reasons for changes. So here is the big question: why each state are proposing their own time zone now? The proposed changes look like a mess to be honest.

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Many of them are contingent on the states around them also switching. People are tired of switching offsets during the year, but also find more value in the sun being up later in the day (6pm is more valuable than 6am). To complicate this, there is Federal regulation that suggests you can't switch to permanent Daylight Saving Time, so instead many states are suggesting a move to permanent Standard Time in the zone to their east.

I think it's unlikely that the map will be this complicated after some changes are actually adopted.

Why don't people just wake up earlier? If we keep shifting the day back, and waking up later, we'll up with the sun rising at 11 AM.

Many States (or at least some legislators in those states) are pushing for permanent DST because of the perceived benefits.

I live in the north and the concern about DST always makes me laugh - the relationship between the time and diurnal patterns is meaningless up here for at least a third of the year.

Maybe they should just do everything one hour early instead, like working from 8 to 4 instead of 9 to 5.

What are the perceived benefits?

People usually cite benefits to farmers, energy savings, declining crime/traffic accidents, happiness due to more sunlight etc.

The first Google result for me implies that these are largely myths (https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2018/03/05/the-...).

Another data point: Later sunsets lead to lost productivity, more obesity, more diabetes, and more breast cancer. Probably due to fewer hours of sleep.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/04/19/how-livin...

The only reason I've heard anyone in reality desire it is for when the sun is present i.e. later in the day. It's why I prefer DST of standard time as a permanent thing. More sunlight in the evening, that's all there is to it for me. But I'd rather standard time with no DST than the switching we do today.

The benefit is not having the time change twice a year.

I can get more daylight in the winter at a later time in Georgia. There’s no reason I should have extra daylight in the morning. I’d much rather get home from work and have more daylight.

Time zones are something that should be federally mandated, not decided in piecemeal like this. They are just creating a fucking mess.

That sounds good in theory, but it doesn't work in practice. The last time the Federal government mandated something related to time zones, it was when George W Bush changed the days of DST, expanding it. It was a giant mess, and studies showed that instead of saving energy as was the claimed rationale, it instead ended up costing a lot of money and wasting more energy; a "fucking mess" as you put it.

If we had a Federal government that actually knew WTF it was doing, your idea would make sense. You really think the Trump Administration could make sensible timezone policy decisions?

Exactly my point! Federal mandate and ditching DST!

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