Who actually benefits from changing the clocks?

[shockwaze]

Kids up at 5:30. Pretty sure that the same thing has happened in many, many houses this morning.

It's just an hour, but so disruptive to children.

Who benefits? Winds me up every year.

Spain changes its clocks but it is in the wrong time zone all year round. As is France.

Look at this map.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Europe

France and Spain used to be in the same time zone as the UK, Ireland and Portugal but changed to align with Germany during the war and never changed back.

What about the people in Yorkshire? Theybenefit from the clock change to. Why should they be on permanent BST? Why should our kids go to school in the dark? 😡Yorkshire is in England by the way

Thank you. At least some people get it.

Different areas of England and Wales would be darker/lighter though so it would be pointless.

I prefer it, if it stops I would want the clocks to not go forward in the summer and stay on winter time 😊

It's all a moot point by December/ January. It's twighlight going into school and twighlight coming out of school (I'm fairly central for E/W, N/S. I'd rather have the light in the evening (BST) for the greater number of children walking out of school, and so that it's viable to do outdoor activities at the end of the school day.

When we had that "firebrake not-a-lockdown" in November 2020, in the absence of activities after school, I tried getting the DCs out for some play/ movement after school. By the 3rd week of November I had to give up because there wasn't sufficient daylight to go somewhere suitable and do anything fun.

Messing around with clocks only makes a few weeks of practical difference before the natural change of daylight puts you back into darkness at 7am part way through November the same as it was in late October.

For most people, they go to work and come home in darkness anyway.

The clock changing annoys me every year. It throws my body clock out and it takes over a week to get back to normal.

Doesn't help that we have 12 clocks in the house and I have 6 watches and they all have to be changed!

I never get the argument that it needs to be light for children to walk to school because even if it is dark when they set off it is getting lighter all the time whereas in the afternoon/evening it is getting darker all the time.

Some posters are saying they like it because of their early morning commute to work but the same logic applies. Surely it is no better commuting home in the dark when it is only going to get darker?

The lighter mornings only last a couple of weeks anyway and then it is dark again so completely pointless

Clock changing is a bullshit measure which negatively affects women with young children more than men, therefore it will never change.

It's 2023 yet we still act like this is necessary. It is not.

I benefitted. It's much, much lighter when I have to leave the house and that is appreciated. It's easier to wake up and easier to be motivated.

Not everything is misogyny.

I am a woman with young children and I understand why clock changing is necessary.

Having children doesn't mean you can no longer process simple information.

So you think it should be stopped so mothers of baby/ toddlers can sleep better ?

It's not that we move the clocks back in Autumn, it's that we move the clocks forward in summer (to BST). Standard time is GMT in winter.

The clocks move forward in summer to get the benefit of additional daylight, rather than sleeping through the first c.3 hours after dawn.

We could keep the clocks the same all year and change the time we do things. Or we could ditch the clocks altogether and just follow the rhythm of the natural day. But either of those could be chaotic in a post-industrial society.

For children walking home from school, it still has a benefit. On the shortest day, sunset is still around 4pm for almost everyone in the country. And this is a time when children aren't going to school. So for the actual school term, there is still daylight around, and there wouldn't be if the clocks didn't change.

Regarding commuting in the morning versus evening, having more light in the morning is motivating in a way that you don't need when you're coming home.

Rubbish.

Not changing them would negatively affect many children far more. Its not bullshit to save lives.

I would be happy with them not changing, but only if it stayed on GMT. In December in NE England its barely light at 9am. It’s not the getting to school, it’s the depressingness of it not being light until nearly 10 that would be soul destroying IMO.

I've always thought the same. We're a month into daylight saving in Australia (except the states with the sense to ignore it) and it's so ridiculous. The sun sets late enough in summer anyway, why do we need to fiddle with the time?

@Catsmere Because it gives us more useable time. In daylight savings, I start early, knock off early and can often grab a few hours at the beach before dusk comes. Can only do that with daylight savings. Much more useable time to get outdoor chores done after work if needed. I’m just glad I’m in one of the States that ‘don’t have sense’, have good weather in summer and take advantage of it, rather than moping around indoors as it is dark earlier outside.

As others have said it's the summer time that is the change.

Farmers need longer lighter evenings to get the summer harvest done, in order to put food into the shops for us to buy.

Yes we have electric lights but how does that help, unless you want to put floodlights across all the fields?!

FYI, Robb, D. and Barnes, T., 2018. Accident rates and the impact of daylight saving time transitions. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 111, pp.193-201.

@HoppingPavlova I never had the energy or inclination after a full day at work and a long commute home (and I had to get up in the dark for my job during DS as well as in winter) to do outdoor things, and having to travel during the hottest part of the day, whether walking home from school or using the trains, made the whole business extremely unpleasant. I don't mope around the house in any weather, I like being home and resting.

@MargotBamborough

Spain changes its clocks but it is in the wrong time zone all year round. As is France.

In terms of timekeeping, yes we're "wrong" (France), we are indeed shifted off Local solar Time by about two hours in summer but OTOH that gives us daylight until gone 10PM on the watch at that time of year.

It's a case of whatever works wherever you are.

It affects global businesses, Europe changes their clocks at the same time. The US within a week. It's convenient to know if -5 hours in the summer and winter to avoid missing meetings. That's the only benefit I see. The week the UK and US are in different time zones is inconvenient.

Not a huge reason. But the best I can see

Dreadful attitude to have towards farmers.

Most people will think the same towards your kids and being woken early.

We've gone back to GMT, which is the standard British time zone, so poor old you is just going to find a backbone and deal with it.

There's no need to be rude say "fuck 'em" to farmers because your brats can't sleep.
The clocks have only gone back one hour, not five!

I am delighted. Means I can wake up naturally with the sunlight and get to work feeling awake. Kids wake up bang on 7am. Love it.

It means all my medication has altered, to my body it feels as though i have missed or messed up my meds and I feel spaced out, dizzy, headache and now bloody face is tingling again, thanks fibromyalgia. I am on meds for fibro and heart issues

I know that it will pass in a few days when it settles down but its such a pain having to go through this twice a year 🙄

hahaha, this made me lol.

The actual time change doesn't mess us up really, don't really remember earlier wake ups when the kids were little, but I feel for those of you losing any precious sleep.

What I DO hate is it being pitched black at 5.30pm. If thats for the farmers, then yer fuck them! 😆