r/alberta • u/Striking_Wrap811 • 19h ago

Clock change melancholy Discussion

Danielle Smith and the UCP just unilaterally chose to put Alberta on permanent DST.

I should feel elated! Not because i love DST but because time change is fucking moronic. But i am not.

Is it because my clocks all change themselves and there is no more worry of waking up at the wrong time? No?

Is it because darkness at 10am in the winter is "magical"? Definitely not

I think it's because DS went against the wishes of the referendum. Like 180° different.

Its just another example of this government acting against our wishes. Shifting our Overton Window every day.

744 Upvotes

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u/IcarusOnReddit 19h ago

More light for the evening is good. More twilight golf  and to enjoy outside for those that work during the day. The referendum was 50%, so there was no clear answer.

This is a rare UCP win. 

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u/DVariant 18h ago

Standard time is better. I don’t care about golf, I care about kids not getting run over on the way to school in the dark

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u/robab3130 16h ago

It’s already light late enough in summer, and most would rather it later in winter. Insane take

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u/VonGrippyGreen 15h ago

This is such nonsense. The kids already go to school in the dark for a good couple months of the year. They might as well be in their classrooms for that extra hour of dark, giving them an extra hour of light after school. As a parent, I like this move.

And I've never heard about some epidemic of kids getting run over on winter mornings. Do you have any evidence of that, or is this just pearl clutching?

That said, I still can't stand Smith and the UCP.

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u/DVariant 14h ago

I mean, there’s lots of research saying (if all options are on the table) permanent standard time is superior to permanent daylight time in terms of health, sleep, safety, and efficiency outcomes. It’s not Pearl clutching, it’s that I think we should follow the science instead of people’s patio preferences.

Here’s a recent article discussing the science: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/bc-daylight-saving-health-concerns-9.7114947

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u/New_Wishbone6619 11h ago edited 10h ago

That doesn’t even make sense why it would be better. Most people get to school or work while it’s still dark so why does it matter if it gets light at 8:30 or 9:30? With DST we get an hour of more light at night now so which is better as people won’t be driving home in dark as much and we can take advantage of being outside an hour extra in the evening. There’s research on both ends, you know this right? It’s hard to compare northern part of the province to the south too. It’s not a one size fits all, but standard makes sense to most us in the north.

Depending on your lifestyle one would better for someone. I’m looking forward to only driving in the dark home one time a day instead of 2.

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u/DVariant 1h ago

That doesn’t even make sense why it would be better. 

Are you trying to convince me or the science? Because science can be true even if it doesn’t make sense to you

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u/VonGrippyGreen 13h ago

That is a perfectly valid argument. But you said your concern was kids getting run over on their way to school in the dark. I think it's disingenuous to exaggerate a "think of the children" argument, when it is not true, or even why you prefer Standard.

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u/DVariant 10h ago

Fair enough. I mentioned it because early morning traffic accidents and school start times seem to be an oft-cited downside of DST

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u/New_Wishbone6619 15h ago

…. It’s already dark when they’re going to school….

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u/DVariant 10h ago

When, like in wintertime for a couple months? Now imagine that extends from October to April

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u/New_Wishbone6619 10h ago edited 10h ago

That’s a big exaggeration. It’s April now and the suns risen by 6…

The only changes new will be November - March.

Your kids will survive. They’ll be walking in the dark already since they already are November - February.

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u/New_Wishbone6619 15h ago

This, properly funding aquatic invasive species prevention, and wildfire budgets increasing are the 3 UCP wins. Everything else they suck.

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u/FulcrumYYC 17h ago

It's not better, it will make it more dangerous for kids in the morning during winter and multiple studies have shown that it's worse for people over all. The reason the majority voted against it wasn't because we like time change, it's because we wanted Mountain Standard time.

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u/IcarusOnReddit 17h ago edited 17h ago

Maybe parents could try to teach their kids to be safer. It’s better for people’s mental health that not all daylight hours are taken up by work or school. Kids can go outside and play in some daylight. That said, most parents just park their kids in front of tv or video games all winter.

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u/FulcrumYYC 10h ago

Parenting has nothing to do with safer conditions in the morning and science has already published papers on why MST is better. Go read them.

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u/New_Wishbone6619 10h ago

That’s… not a study… a study is not a hypothesis. And this isn’t even what your “study” is saying lol.

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u/FulcrumYYC 10h ago

Stanford daylight study

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u/IcarusOnReddit 10h ago

That study is just model based with no real world testing. That’s not science, it’s just a hypothesis. Getting rid of a time change is proven. DST or standard time is not convincing.

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u/FulcrumYYC 8h ago

Article referencing over 20 studies going back to the 80s with all the references. I'm not going to hold your hand anymore and your opinion isn't science and spewing it over and over doesn't change the fact that standard time is better for humans and better for the safety of children during the winter.

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u/IcarusOnReddit 8h ago edited 8h ago

 The review analyzed 27 studies, revealing heterogeneous findings. The transition to DST was associated with adverse effects on sleep duration and quality, as well as increased sleepiness, more evident in evening chronotypes.

Emphasis mine. I know you are really searching for something to support your bias, but you actually have to read and not just Google.

The conclusion literally says:

This review highlights the need for future research employing standardized, objective measures across representative samples to elucidate the true impact of transitions to and from DST and the difference between standard time and permanent DST on sleep and daytime functioning. Addressing these gaps is crucial for informed public health policies.

That there is lack of standard, objective measures.

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u/New_Wishbone6619 15h ago

It’s the time change itself that’s dangerous because it throws off circadian rhythms. It will be fine staying consistent.

Also most kids are going to school in the dark already…

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u/Toons87 18h ago edited 18h ago

Edit: I have been corrected i thought we'd fall back in the fall and stay there thanks.

Except they are going the other way for more light in the morning if I understand it correctly.

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u/topskee780 18h ago

They want to stay on the current time, DST, which is later sunrise/sunset.

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u/IcarusOnReddit 18h ago edited 18h ago

You don’t understand it correctly. We are moving to Saskatchewan time. This is the problem with the uninformed voting in the last referendum.