Daylight Wasting Time

Last month I had to change the clocks on the stove, the microwave, the video game systems, the cell phone, the time in the car, the wrist watch, the alarm clock, the living room clock, and the office clock. Thankfully most computers change automatically, but there are still many clocks we have to manually change, and as a country I think we are wasting too much time and money doing this. If half of all Canadians spent a minute each adjusting their clocks, that will amount to more than 30 years! of total time fidgeting with clocks, such a waste. And this happens not once but twice every year.

DST also messes up people’s internal clock system. Even though it’s only 1 hour, the cumulative effect on the entire country is very disruptive and lowers productivity. Imagine if everyone in Canada had to experience a 1 hour jet lag every 6 months. This is especially detrimental for those who already have sleeping disorders. Some people take the time change in March for granted and go to work 1 hour late after the day of the time change, claiming they “forgot” to set their clocks over the weekend. Very unproductive.

The problem comes from only having DST half the time. We should either not use DST at all or have it in effect all through the year, which will essentially shift the country’s timezone over by 1 hour, which I don’t see a problem with. I think if we stick to just one time frame we can be more productive, efficient and competitive.

Places in the world where DST is observed like most of Canada, the US, and Europe are having trouble growing their economies pass 3% a year. But countries where DST was observed but have now stopped like Brazil, China, Thailand, and India are currently growing at 6, 7, even 8% a year no problem. Coincidence?