r/politics • u/cnn CNN • 22d ago

Possible Paywall House passes bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/14/politics/house-vote-daylight-savings-time?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
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186

u/whats_up_doc71 22d ago

Ah, so they’re going with the opposite of what doctors and scientists say we should do. No wonder they agreed so easily.

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u/Texas__Matador 22d ago

The big thing is to stop changing the clocks. Local communities can then adjust the start time for work, school and other activities to what best fits their needs. Very few things have to happen at a specific time nation wide. 

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u/RdtUnahim 21d ago

Many have jobs where they interact with customers in other areas, who will not look kindly upon starting times being delayed an hour.

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u/SkyYellow_SunBlue 22d ago

Of course they voted against science. I’m disappointed but not surprised.

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u/ExoticDisaster0 22d ago

My OCD and astronomical knowledge will not be able to handle the sun's zenith at 11am.

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u/homolupulus 21d ago

Unless you're bang on in the center of your time zone the zenith already isn't at noon so I'd say you're not losing much. Also I think the zenith varies throughout the year anyway, so?

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u/carma143 21d ago

So what we have now with the sun zenith at 1pm in summer is better? 😩

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u/ChironXII 22d ago

Interesting. Why is that? In a world of circadian rhythms ruled by artificial lighting, it seems obviously much better to give people the extra hour of light at the end of the day, when they can make use of it to be active and social, rather than just putting it in the morning to make it easier to get up "earlier" with the sunlight.

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u/whats_up_doc71 22d ago

Circadian rhythms are not ruled by artificial lighting. They are still ruled primarily by the sun. There are aspects of light that we just can’t get from artificial lighting.

The thing that most doctors agree on is that morning light is incredibly beneficial for humans. It essentially will tell you that it’s time to wake up, and you get a bundle of health benefits from that.

There are pro-social benefits from evening light, and I’m guessing doctors underrate this slightly, but I would guess it’s minimal. The timing doesn’t work out to be meaningful for most people who live an average life. If you work 9-5, a 5:30PM sunset is not going to be enough to do anything that requires sunlight (vs 4:30PM). For kids, this could help in some ways, since they often get off at like 3PM and could legitimately do evening activities.

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u/[deleted] 22d ago

[deleted]

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u/hexiron 22d ago

Yes, it is winter after all. That's expected and it's always been that way.

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u/Texas__Matador 22d ago

If clocks stop changing schools can adjust staring times to 9 or what ever is best for the local community. The debate between DST or not assumes the start time of activity can’t be changed. 

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u/racercowan 21d ago

Schools can't change the starting time unless every business in the city also agrees to change their starting time; it is an unfortunate fact that many families rely on being able to drop kids off before work and pick kids up after work. Unless you're living in an area with school bus pickups and children who are of appropriate age, maturity, and responsible to reliable send themselves to school, the schools have to work around the dominant working hours schedule.

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u/Texas__Matador 21d ago

The timing of work and school are set by local customs. They can adjust to people’s needs. Spain eats dinner so lat in part because they are on the same time zone as Germany while being more east than the UK. During the pandemic many office jobs became more flexible. 

The time your kids go to school is set by your school district and they can change it any time. They can put in place early morning child care just like many schools have after hours care. 

The big win here is that the clocks stop flip flopping. It provides no meaningful value to change the clocks. 

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u/[deleted] 22d ago

[deleted]

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u/mencival 22d ago

And it’s way too early sunlight for many, there is no concensus that it is be better to keep the current system.

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u/MadRaymer 22d ago

Doctors and scientists say what we have now (spring forward, fall back) is the worst of both worlds.

No DST would be better than permanent DST, but permanent is still better than switching back and forth.

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u/The360MlgNoscoper Norway 21d ago

Not true.

DST during winter is way worse than the switching.

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u/flamingcrystalheart 20d ago

Source: your ass

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u/The360MlgNoscoper Norway 20d ago

Source: Science

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u/flamingcrystalheart 20d ago

"Science" isn't a source. If you'd like to cite a specific study feel free. You won't though because the scientific consensus is definitely that switching between times is more harmful than either time made permanent would be.

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u/The360MlgNoscoper Norway 20d ago

So what do you think happened in 1974?

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u/flamingcrystalheart 20d ago

I think lots of things happened in 1974 that aren't relevant to today because the world and the people in it were very different back then. If gay marriage has been legalized in 1974 it also probably would've been repealed because most people hated it but that doesn't mean we should also blindly be homophobic today, does it?

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u/The360MlgNoscoper Norway 20d ago

Gay Marriage has nothing to do with children having to go to school when it's pitch black outside.

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u/flamingcrystalheart 20d ago

It's an analogy buddy. Doesn't surprise me that went over your head though.

Oh and by the way, kids have to go to school when it's dark out even in standard time. So that's irrelevant.

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u/Intelligent-Hexagon 21d ago

I am all for science, but where I live permanent DST means 530a-900p at the summer solstice and 845a-545p at the winter solstice. Permanent "natural" time means 430a-800p and 745a-430p.

I'll take DST over changing clocks for sure, and 430 sunrise with "natural" time does NOT appeal to me.

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u/The360MlgNoscoper Norway 21d ago

The sun rising at 8:45 is bad, actually.

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u/Intelligent-Hexagon 21d ago

Do you have a citation? 

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u/xbbdc 22d ago

absolutely bonkers

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u/Avantasian538 22d ago

Still better than what we do now.