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points by thendrill 23 hours ago | 0 comments

So... Cuba is the voice of reason?

Yehh Europe is loosing its mind..

I belive this whole clock fliopity flip twice a year is a huge contributing factor to people's "unbalance", and worsening mental state... Especially the northern parts....

We humans are creatures of habit... Mess with the circadian rhythm of en entire population and expect no adverse effect.... Mhm checks out.

[–] GuB-42 20 hours ago

The thing is: everyone has an opinion, but the scientific evidence that one system is better than another is weak.

And it is weak because people are different. Some people tolerate clock change better than others, some people function better in summer time, others function better in winter time. Any decision you make (keep clock change, summer time only, winter time only) will benefit some people and will hurt others. And there is not even strong evidence that one solution is better on average.

For the disruption caused by clock change itself, it is indeed noticeable, like an increase in traffic accidents, but it is just one day, but the effect of being in summer time vs winter time lasts 6 months. So if the clock change makes even a small improvement for 6 months, it may be worth the disruption for 2 days a year. I am not saying there is, it is just that there is no real consensus.

So, by default, when a change may have negative consequence for some people and may not lead to an overall improvement, you don't change.

[–] Boltgolt 23 hours ago

Calling canceling a time change mere days before it was going to happen "the voice of reason" is rich

[–] lloeki 23 hours ago

"Days" is plenty of time, IIRC some tz changes happened hours before they had to come into effect!

[–] input_sh 22 hours ago

Most of the world is the voice of reason actually.

This is a very European / North American problem for some reason. There are some exceptions, but in general Asia, Africa and South America don't do this.

[–] gonzus 22 hours ago

If you mean "changing time in summer", Chile has been doing this for a while, and I think other countries in South America do to.

If you mean "changing the rules a few hours / days before they should be applied", Chile (again) did this a few years / decades ago, and it wreaked havoc: all scheduled meetings were off by one or two hours, you could not rely on your calendar, etc.

Plenty of stupidity going around in Chile / South America, rest assured.

[–] input_sh 21 hours ago

> and I think other countries in South America do to

Nope, only Chile, and not even the whole Chile. Similarly, Egypt is the only exception in Africa, Lebanon/Palestine/Israel are the only exceptions in Asia, plus also New Zealand and like half of Australia.

The vast, vast majority of the world including China, India, Mexico, Russia, Iran, Turkey and so on don't move their clocks. In fact, out of 20 most populous countries in the world, only three do: United States, Egypt and Germany.

[–] marliechiller 22 hours ago

I remember reading somewhere that we see an increased incidence of heart related ailments around the clock change, hypothesized due to this change in sleep patterns.

[–] ninalanyon 20 hours ago

Also road accidents.

[–] sschueller 23 hours ago

Switzerland never wanted it: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/daylight-saving-time-wh...

[–] paganel 22 hours ago

> a huge contributing factor to people's "unbalance", and worsening mental state.

This is surely an exaggeration.

[–] thendrill 22 hours ago

https://clin.au.dk/display/artikel/the-transition-from-dayli...

[–] jansan 23 hours ago

The EU again is all talk and no action on this topic. 84% said in a poll to get rid of it back in 2018, parliament voted to end it by 2021. But here we are at the end of 2026 turning the clocks back again. Next march same thing. Honestly at this point I don't think it will ever happen, they will still be "discussing"it in 2040.

[–] leipert 22 hours ago

Actually “only” Germany voted back then. Like 3.79% of Germans voted. So that comes out to ~3.18M of 4.6M votes cast by Germans.

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_18_...

[–] OroPla 19 hours ago

A vote was held and a conclusion reached. Voting is not mandatory, but generally the outcome of a vote should be followed.

I voted to permanently abolish daylight saving time/summer time and am very unhappy that it isn't gone already.

[–] _ph_ 19 hours ago

So much confusion about this. There was never a "vote" about it. It was more like a poll, which wasn't advertised across the EU, and on top of it was severely plagued by server failures. To have a binding vote:

- it needs to be properly announced to all eligible voters

- be declared as binding, you can't tell people it isn't a vote and later on declare it is

- the platform for voting needs to work

[–] jansan 18 hours ago

Who cares? On 26 March 2019 the European Parliament voted 410 to 192 in favor of dropping the DST requirement in the EU by 2021.

Nothing happend. All talk, no action, as I wrote above.

[–] _ph_ 16 hours ago

Unfortunately, they left open what happens after dropping DST. If they had clearly written that the EU would return to the standard time, it would have been active back then.

[–] tchalla 23 hours ago

That’s the downside of EU decision making.

[–] echoangle 23 hours ago

> and worsening mental state

How would something that has been in effect for at least 60 years still lead to a worsening mental state over time?

[–] wiseowise 23 hours ago

Yeah, because humans existed for only 60 years.

[–] echoangle 22 hours ago

Well most people haven't existed for 60 years. Where I'm from, DST was introduced 110 years ago and people still complain. When will the worsening mental state reach equilibrium? Or is there maybe a chance that the worsening mental state isn't due to DST?

[–] thendrill 22 hours ago

Daylight saving time: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine position statement

https://aasm.org/advocacy/position-statements/daylight-savin...

The transition from daylight saving time to standard time leads to depressions https://clin.au.dk/display/artikel/the-transition-from-dayli...

[–] echoangle 21 hours ago

Sure, but hasn’t that been the case for all the time since DST was introduced? The original comment to me sounded like DST is responsible for people being in a worse mental state now than a few years ago.

[–] thendrill 17 hours ago

It is a gradual process... Think evolution.. or constructive interference..