Hacker News Reader

Comment by WarOnPrivacy | Hacker News Reader

"To the relief of many Americans, the period of daylight saving time is finally coming to a close."

I am fairly skeptical of the assertion that most Americans favor Standard time over DST.

My skepticism extends to the 2019 poll[1] that asked Americans if they "Supported Ending Daylight Savings Time", a Q that bundles Standard Time with ending clock shifts.

The Q to ask is "For year round time, would you prefer Standard Time or DST?" This would better allow us to consider what people at different latitudes want.

[1] https://today.yougov.com/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2...

View on HN

I think if you ask that question in a poll, you also have to explain the question that DST means "sun rises and sets later". The average person might not even know which is which.

Or explain that DST means getting up earlier vs. sleeping in.

Just about everyone I know despises DST. There is some disagreement about what would become "standard time", but almost everyone wants it to end. The worst part of DST is the assumption that you can just reschedule a kid's body clock. A baby gets really upset with the time change, and older kids aren't that much better.

> Just about everyone I know despises DST.

You may know them all then.

Over a longish life intersecting about every class there is, I found ~0 people expressing a preference for Standard time. The preference for DST has been fairly universal.

I have not lived at high latitudes however. Some comments here indicate opinions there may reasonably differ.

I would prefer doing away with DST.

Probably the vast majority of people with sleep disorders would do better with it as well.

I'm not convinced that we're universally a sunrise-to-sunset species, just some of us are.

> I would prefer doing away with DST. Probably the vast majority of people with sleep disorders would do better with it as well.

I'm fairly skeptical of that as well. What I've seen among support groups is losing free-time to darkness increases SAD, which leads to sleep issues. I could ask around tho.

Would those people do equally well or better if they didn't have jobs that confined them indoors with little natural light and were able to get out around noon for an hour long walk or run, instead of having to desperately try to catch that hour of sunlight after they get home?

Other than hours, it isn't clear why these workplace conditions can be assumed.

> I am fairly skeptical of the assertion that most Americans favor Standard time over DST.

I despite the changing clock. Frankly, I don't care whether we're on daylight or standard time - I fully expect my schedule would just change in order to accommodate having roughly the same amount of sunlight (which can be a precious commodity here in the Pacific Northwest in the winter).

> sunlight which can be a precious commodity here in the Pacific Northwest

Oddly for this DST shill, I envy you that. I despise unfiltered sunlight. I just don't want it replaced with darkness.

An AP-NORC Poll from the same year has it as 40% EST, 31% EDT, 28% keep switching.

(page 12: https://apnorc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Impeach_DSL-To... )

Reply on news.ycombinator.com