I'm glad you're asking this question, it's about time.
this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2025
90 points (95.0% liked)
Ask Lemmy
35407 readers
1506 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I disagree, they're about an hour off.
booo
I don't know why you're booing; it was a well-timed joke.
ಠ_ಠ
booo
Why can't we (states) ignore clock changes without the federal government?
I'm not sure what you mean. There are places in the US that don't do DST.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time
In the United States, it is observed by all states except Hawaii, Arizona (within the latter, however, the Navajo Nation does observe it), and the U.S. Territories.[2]
From the same article:
In the United States, several states have enacted legislation to implement permanent DST, but the bills would require Congress to change federal law in order to take effect. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 permits states to opt out of DST and observe permanent standard time, but it does not permit permanent DST.
So what? Not changing clocks is the bigger issue, and I'm someone that very much prefers DST through the winter, as it gives me more sunlight after the typical work day.
But I'd settle for a single, non-switching time.
Plus I'm sure if a state decided to go permanent DST, the Fed would have a hard time forcing the issue, as suddenly the Interstate clause would get challenged in the Supreme Court, and the Fed wants to avoid that at all costs.
The rub is which to go with. Some people want the extra hour of daylight after work in the winter. Others want it in the summer because it will maximize their after-hours sunlight in the season when being outside is more realistic.
The reasonable position I take is that, if you inflict a Spring Forward on me, I'm owed a goddamned Fall Back and I'll go to war with any government who tries to keep that hour indefinitely.
The rub is which to go with. Some people want the extra hour of daylight after work in the winter. Others want it in the summer because it will maximize their after-hours sunlight in the season when being outside is more realistic.
We already tried permanent DST and it didn't even last through the first full calendar year before being revoked. And while sticking with one time year-round instead of switching, Standard time is healthier than DST:
The researchers of a study published in September in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimate that permanent standard time would prevent about 300,000 cases of stroke per year and result in 2.6 million fewer people having obesity, while permanent daylight saving time would achieve about two-thirds of the same effect.
People want permanent standard time because it's healthier for us.
Don't worry, you'll get your fall back as regularly scheduled. However, when the clock hits midnight we're immediately jumping ahead an hour again so we permanently land on DST.
I'm just saying that I'm heavily armed even for a Texan. Do with that information what you will.
My proposal is to just make them all "fall backs".
Yeah, AM/PM will get inverted after a few years, but imho, that's a small price to pay in exchange for an extra hour of sleep twice a year
Throw in another leap day every 12 years and we've got a system.
I’d meet in the middle if we could just be done with it once and for all
I agree, let's all plan on falling back by a half hour this year.
This is the solution I mention every year, but so far no one has listened. :) It would solve all the complaints from both sides of which one to choose.
Keep preaching!! How do I get involved??
I dunno, the two of you here are the first ones I've seen that have also suggested or like the idea, most people just laugh like it's a joke.
Maybe try to make a short viral video about the idea to build support?
-
solves all the complaints I've heard about which end of the day the daylight is shifted to, because it meets in the middle like you say.
-
There are other countries offset by a half hour so it's not unreasonable in that regard.
-
It won't be as hard to adjust to as a full hour and only has to be done one final time.
To further clarify, these states CAN ignore the federal DST and continue on with standard time, because that is legal under federal law.
They are not permitted to choose permanent DST or other types of non-standard time bc that is against federal law.
I don't even care which they choose at this point, ST or DT.
Permanent DST was enacted, federally, in December 1973. It was so unpopular that it was repealed less than a year later.
I know. I remember because I was a school kid at the time. A couple of kids got hit by a car and it was a big story that kids shouldn't be walking to school in the dark, so people turned against the idea. Yes it's true--most kids walked to school back then. :) I think very few do any more, so I doubt that would be such a big point of contention these days.
Also they didn't change them at the normal time in the fall when people were used to it, they suddenly changed them in the middle of winter so the change from light to dark in the mornings was more dramatic. The problem is that days are just short in the winter and in the northern states even changing the clock back to ST doesn't magically make it light in the mornings.
I think you're right that staying on standard time would be a little bit better than staying on daylight time (for that reason), but again I don't care which one they choose and some of us think the best compromise would be to change the clocks by only half an hour and leave them there.
It should be implemented by having the state move time zones and reject DST, but no one wants to frame it like that.
Time zones were originally mandated for the sake of railroads: before trains each town used its own local time, and each locality refused to change their clocks to match anyone else’s. So time zones were set by the federal government because there was little chance that every town in the country would reach a consensus otherwise.
When DST was introduced much later, time zones were already an accepted thing—so the federal government gave states the discretion to adopt DST or not. But they have to take it or leave it: they can’t make it year-round because that would effectively move them to a different time zone, which is still the prerogative of the federal government.
Hawaii already doesn't do DST ... Since 1967
The answer is that there is a law, The Uniform Time Act.
Ad to why we just don’t ignore it, I’m sure it’s because the support for it just isn’t strong enough to merit ignoring a federal law.
If States aren't allowed to change their clock time, they could instead designate that standard work/business and school hours will shift to an hour later during DST (or I guess vice versa if they want to go the other way). That way everyone is still getting up and going to bed at the same actual time, even though it's at a different clock time.
I wager we could get New Hampshire, Vermont, or Texas to challenge the uniform time act as a violation of the 9th amendment just for the fun of it.
I wouldn't put it past California, either.
So I had trouble finding a breakdown of those 19 states and what the specifics of those laws are. In general what you have are 19 states who want to do it. However some of those 19 explicitly call out waiting to enact the law until A, the federal government first passes a similar law and/or B, neighboring states also pass similar laws.
Basically no one wants to go first, but they're ready once everyone else is. While switching twice a year is painful, being the only one not to switch is also painful, possibly more than just switching.
being the only one not to switch is also painful, possibly more than just switching.
As an Arizonan, I disagree with this point. I don't really experience any downsides with not switching and I think very few people would.
Run for office.
19 states have “no more changing the clocks” laws passed, but aren’t allowed to do so without approval of the federal government?
I think you're confused...
To my knowledge states want everyone to agree not to do it. But don't want to stop doing it and be different to the states that do.
It doesn't sound like a big deal, but for reasons that should be really apparent right now. We shouldn't want a big federal government deciding all this shit.
If Idaho doesn't want to do daylight savings time, or wants to always do it. Or switch back every third Tuesday of every other month...
That's up to Idaho.
People love to talk about how the Senate favors small states, but no one wants to talk about the reason why it never mattered, was the federal government as a whole had very little power at first.
But a strong central government is easier for oligarchs to control, so for all the reasons we don't want one, we've ended up with one.
It doesn't make sense to keep putting all the power into something a minority of American have oversized say in.
Tldr:
Why can't we (states) ignore clock changes without the federal government?
There's no reason states can't just do it.
And Indiana already does ignore it.
Indiana ignores what? I’ve lived in Indiana and still have family in Indiana and they do switch twice a year. There is a small part of Indiana that is stuck, but for most, it is EST that acknowledges DST.
So does Arizona
And those 2 states were grandfathered in when Congressional approval became a thing.
If you don't work nights, be glad that you don't lose an hour on your paycheck every spring
I heard that some places just pay out the "spring forward" hour as a good gesture
The article has this heading:
No, permanent daylight saving time wouldn’t be better for you
followed by
Weed and her team found that a permanent shift to DST [is] less damaging than the current biannual back-and-forth
which pretty clearly contradicts the heading.
I'm in favor of getting rid of the clock change regardless of which time is permanently adopted. There seems to be some North/South split in preferences which might reasonably be addressed by redrawing time zones.
I want to know who is forcing us to change the clocks
If you show up to work and all your appointments an hour late for the next 6 months, you'll feel the consequences.
Anyway at 2am on Nov 2nd most of our smart phones & other devices will automatically throw back to 1am unless you adjust your phone settings in defiance.
I will aid and abet time crime.