The Cruel, Cruel Joke That Is Daylight Savings Time

March 14, 2016


Not actually me, but pretty much how I felt. Image courtesy of Nico Traut/Shutterstock

How I feel after DST kicks in.
Nico Traut/Shutterstock

I hate Daylight Savings Time. Hate it.

My mental functioning is very tightly linked to sunlight. I want naps on rainy days, and the darkness of winter is a terrible trial for me. That’s why I celebrate Winter Solstice as much as I celebrate Christmas, and why living in Yellowknife for three years made puberty even more painful than it is for most kids – between October and January, I’d go to school in the dark and come home in the dark. That’s a long, long time for a sleepy, cranky, teenager not to see the sun.

Hence my hate for DST. Just as the sun starts to rise at the time I have to get up, convincing my poor brain that yes, it IS acceptable to be awake now, we roll the clocks forward, and it’s pitch black at 7AM for another month. It is a cruel, cruel joke on a defenceless me.

The thing that really kills me, though, is that DST defenders say that this bizarre war-time ritual is of benefit to the farmers. OH YEAH? Then why has the province of Saskatchewan, which is 95% populated by farmers, abolished Daylight Savings Time?

It’s because cows can’t tell time, people. Cows want to be milked on a regular interval. They don’t care if the clock says 6AM or 7AM, so long as they’re not uncomfortable. Which means that DST is also a cruel joke on the farmers.

Please, Justin Trudeau. Make Daylight Savings Time go away.

What about you? Hate the time change? Love it? How do you cope with losing an hour of sleep every spring?

Two quick announcements! First, I was lucky enough to appear on both the radio and in the newspaper recently. If you’re interested, the links are in the “Books in the News” sidebar to the right.

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5 Comments on ‘The Cruel, Cruel Joke That Is Daylight Savings Time’

  1. I listened to much of a good Cross-country Checkup on CBC radio yesterday on this very subject. They talked to a fella that has written the history of DST and he stated very, very firmly that DST never was, never has been, and never will be due to farmers, yet this mistaken notion is widespread across most of the planet where DST is observed, and has been since 1916. His book is called “Save the Daylight” if you wanna check it out (I haven’t yet). The farmers have been taking the heat, completely erroneously, for this for 100 years. Poor farmers, as if they don’t have enough to deal with…. 🙂 DST meant absolutely nothing to us in Norman Wells, except the time change. I guess it’s a bigger deal here in NS. I remember one year in Newfoundland where DOUBLE DST was implemented (for just one year!) and the Minister that was the ‘brainchild’ behind the scheme was interviewed about it and the best reason he could come up with was “Well, it’s good for the b’ys that play softball, ya knows, because wit’ the DDST games don’t get called due t darkness.” I paraphrase, but that’s the gist of it. The island is already 0.5 hour out of synch with everyone else, and that year they went a whole 1.5 hours. It was hilarious – you’d have loved it!

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    1. Newfoundland does like to march to the beat of its very own drummer, doesn’t it? The book sounds interesting. Perhaps I will check it out someday (if I even make it through my existing TBR pile…).

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  2. Daylight Savings Time is stupid. I think they perpetuated the myth that it’s for the benefit of the farmers because that sounds a lot better than “We decided to copy the Germans when they started it during the Two World Wars.” But, really – we have electricity, modems, and a 24-hour news cycle. It’s ridiculous to continue a practice as inane as changing the clocks twice a year.

    This is why we can’t have nice things.

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    1. Poor farmers! I know, I just don’t see the purpose anymore. I’m still unhappy about morning darkness. It’s going to take a couple weeks to acclimate.

      Reply | 

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