Massachusetts and Maine Are Leading a Charge to Ditch Daylight Saving Time

Megalith

Megalith

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Both Massachusetts and Maine are considering saying a permanent farewell to observing DST by switching time zones from Eastern to Atlantic. There’s an abundance of scientific research that has linked DST to harmful side effects, such as an increased risk of stroke, heart attacks, and miscarriages.

“At least five other states have legislation they’re considering regarding potential time zone changes,” Carl Stevens, a reporter for WBZ NewsRadio 1030, tweeted. On Wednesday night, the 11-person commission voted 9-1 in favor of getting rid of DST. If the move eventually happens, the states would be accompanied by Arizona and Hawaii, both of which have not practiced DST since the 1960s after opting out of the Uniform Time Act.
 
Good! DST causes so many headaches with computer systems. Twice a year manufacturing plants lose man weeks of labor just switching and testing. Never mind the effects on little kids trying to change their schedules around twice a year.

Good riddance.
 
At least they changed it to Sunday mornings a while back but still affects a lot of people. Still this needs to go period.
 
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The thing that would suck about that is my east coast co-workers would be even farther ahead of central time, which will lead to 6am conference calls instead of 8 or other such madness.

But in general, yeah screw DST
 
Here in arizona, we don't do DST. We spend half the year in PST and half in MST. This creates its own sort of confusion
 
Sounds more like they're effectively trying to keep DST in effect year round, which I'm cool with since I hate driving home from work in the dark at 5:00pm. Unfortunately, that's going to take an act of Congress for most other states that don't have the option of changing time zones.

vegeta535 said:
At least they changed it to Sunday mornings a while back but still affects a lot of people. Still this needs to go period.
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The switch has always been on Sunday mornings.
 
We just need more of a "dynamic" time system where we add a few seconds every so often to keep our clocks in sync with the Earths orbit (which we already do) vs this outdated and useless DST garbage. Just like the idiotic imperial system, DST needs to go.
 
Maybe we should ditch all time zones and just have USA standard time. Adjust the working shifts as need to Max daylight, but don't adjust clock.
 
Ditching DST (Daylight Savings Time) isn't what they are proposing. It is exactly the opposite. They want to keep it all year round.
Here in New England we just switched from EDT (Eastern Daylight Time, which is a DST time) to EST (Eastern Standard Time which is not DST). https://www.timeanddate.com/time/change/usa
This means now it gets dark one hour earlier than it did yesterday evening when we were on EDT.
Switching to AST (Atlantic Standard Time) year round would mean we would be in "EDT" year round. EDT == AST. https://www.worldtimeserver.com/time-zones/
Which I think would be great.
 
only issue i see is the head ache caused if we don't just all stop changing the clocks as systems as going to be screwed up trying to switch or not switch based on so many rules
 
All the eastern time zone needs to do this!

And yes, Atlantic Standard Time year round is the same time year round as Eastern Daylight Time year round. The only difference is which is easier to sell to your constituents. "Year-round DST" seems easier to sell in Georgia than "that Canadian timezone in the far north east we've never heard of".
 
Yay! I fucking hate DST time changes!!! They absolutely suck! Pick one and keep it ffs!
 
EODetroit said:
All the eastern time zone needs to do this!

And yes, Atlantic Standard Time year round is the same time year round as Eastern Daylight Time year round. The only difference is which is easier to sell to your constituents. "Year-round DST" seems easier to sell in Georgia than "that Canadian timezone in the far north east we've never heard of".
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To Clarify, as Standard time vs daylight time can be confusing. If New England were to go to Atlantic time and get rid of Daylight Savings Time, Times would match Eastern time during the summer, but an hour later in Winter.

The idea is to get the entire North East to be on the same time zone, ideally including New York.
 
I would like to see it changed to a single time too like Arizona does it. Just stick to one time and screw all this changing clocks crap.
 
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ryan_975 said:
Sounds more like they're effectively trying to keep DST in effect year round, which I'm cool with since I hate driving home from work in the dark at 5:00pm. Unfortunately, that's going to take an act of Congress for most other states that don't have the option of changing time zones.



The switch has always been on Sunday mornings.
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Has it been? I swear it wasn't when I was younger.
 
fuck that. I like daylight savings, and think it should be permanent.

Now that daylight savings has just ended, it's dark outside at 5pm, and I hate that.

people get off work just to meet darkness.
 
As long as we stay on summer time and ditch standard time, more light in the evenings means more time for projects after work, fuck having light before I have to go to work, can't mow the lawn at 6 am.
 
With the advent of the cheap accessible smart phone who cares really? I wake up when my alarm tells me to wake up, my phone automatically adjusts and it knows where I am so time zones don't matter either. Ever since I got smart phones I didn't even know or care that DST was a thing. And I don't expect it to take much longer before all the clocks in a home can adjust automatically. Just pick something and stick with it. The other affect is work times but now days so many companies and employees have to work non standard hours that doesn't even matter either.
 
I love DST because I can listen to all the 6 year olds cry because their nap schedule was ever so slightly adjusted.
 
Getting home late on standard time is only because they compensated for savings time by doing a 9-5 work day. Here in the central time zone we work 8-5, so we begin at the same time as our eastern time offices. I actually prefer standard time simply because I hate having to get up over an hour before daylight when savings time first begins in the spring. From November on we don't need to mow the grass so I don't really care if it is dark when I get home. Plus the savings time is an hour off from solar time, GMT is set to solar time which is the world wide standard yet we keep jumping it back and forth from being in sync in winter to an hour ahead in summer. It's like saying nature isn't good enough.

Leave it on standard time and if people worry about getting home late, just set work to begin at 8am instead of 9am. Besides even on savings time, by the time December rolls around you will still be getting home after dark no matter what.
 
Kdawg said:
fuck that. I like daylight savings, and think it should be permanent.
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That's exactly what moving From Eastern to Atlantic time would accomplish.

Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont are all advancing various proposals to implement this, each of them contingent upon all four states, or at least Massachusetts, passing a similar proposal. I think we're getting close. Local media coverage has been fairly continuous since this spring, which is unusual; normally this topic dies down and we don't hear about it until the next change.

I've also heard whispers of CT and RI working on this; it would indeed seem rather foolish for them to not make the change, if the rest of New England does. As NY is a turd-like slug that will never do anything to lead the charge on issues that actually favor the interests of the people, and since the rest of the East Coast is unlikely to make a move without NY, the rest of ya'll might be out of luck, short of an act of Congress. Good luck.
 
Damn it. I have to figure out my car's clock. It always turns out to make sense once I figure it out, but it takes a while. I have a Subaru - it's never clear which menu system controls it.
I think I've changed all the other clocks in my house. However, I'm sure there is one in a bedroom somewhere I missed...
 
i always wished they would do it in reverse. go back in the summer and forward in the winter. more light in the evening in winter months and darker earlier in the summer.
 
Maine, I understand switching to Atlantic. Massachusetts, not so much. Then again, perhaps it's because I'm use to the times. As for DST, I'd say good riddance if they ever got rid of it. From now until March, I'll probably never see then sun with the exception of the weekends. I dislike leaving work at 5 PM only for it to be pitch black and feeling so much later.
 
rudy said:
With the advent of the cheap accessible smart phone who cares really? I wake up when my alarm tells me to wake up, my phone automatically adjusts and it knows where I am so time zones don't matter either. Ever since I got smart phones I didn't even know or care that DST was a thing. And I don't expect it to take much longer before all the clocks in a home can adjust automatically. Just pick something and stick with it. The other affect is work times but now days so many companies and employees have to work non standard hours that doesn't even matter either.
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Some of us still wear an analogue watch that has to be adjusted twice a year.
 
jedijeb13 said:
Getting home late on standard time is only because they compensated for savings time by doing a 9-5 work day. Here in the central time zone we work 8-5, so we begin at the same time as our eastern time offices. I actually prefer standard time simply because I hate having to get up over an hour before daylight when savings time first begins in the spring. From November on we don't need to mow the grass so I don't really care if it is dark when I get home. Plus the savings time is an hour off from solar time, GMT is set to solar time which is the world wide standard yet we keep jumping it back and forth from being in sync in winter to an hour ahead in summer. It's like saying nature isn't good enough.

Leave it on standard time and if people worry about getting home late, just set work to begin at 8am instead of 9am. Besides even on savings time, by the time December rolls around you will still be getting home after dark no matter what.
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No. My schedule is already 7-4 and I have an hour commute home. I rarely leave at 4, usually it's 5-6, so that exta hour of sunlight helps immensely in the summer, besides mowing, there's weeding, watering, cleaning the truck, working on projects in the garage, etc. I want the sunlight in the afternoon because it just makes more sense to have light when you get home rather than before you head to work.
 
Traffic home is worse going home on Standard Time. Just piles of brake lights for miles trudging cautiously through the dark. Give me DST please. I also like to see some sunlight at the end of my workday.
 
i think i'm safe with saying that i hate DST far more than anyone else here. i'm a 12 hour shift worker and i had to work during the time change last night. not only was the company kind enough to let me work 13 hours instead of 12, but they went the extra mile and didn't pay me for that hour!!

that's a weird thing with our union in case anyone is wondering....there's 5 shift crews and they want each crew to have equal base hours of pay. in their idiot eyes, i'd be getting an unfair opportunity by getting paid for the extra hour i worked. but on the flip side if you work when the clocks change again in the spring, you get to work for 11 hours and get paid for 12.

there's a simple solution to all this. the time changes officially at 2am. i get a 1 hour lunch break. i'll take my lunch at 1:05 thanks.
 
can't we just move up a half hour and satiate everyone?

its current year for fuck sakes.
 
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It is rare to meet someone that likes DST. It complicates international meetings and work for me.

It can fuck off in the history bin of crappy stuff like consumer magnetic video tapes.
 
I wouldn't mind keeping DST permanently. If we used standard time year-round, our June sunrise would be at 4:30am, which would be a waste of good sunlight. I'd much rather keep the 8:45pm sunset. We then don't really gain anything by falling back to standard time in winter.
 
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