this post was submitted on 31 May 2025
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Why isn't this a popular thing?

(page 2) 50 comments
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[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 38 points 3 days ago (6 children)

The cultural relationship with time is more important than its absolute measurement.

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[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Almost a century ago, the fascist dictator of Spain wanted to appease Hitler and decided to move the timezone from the UK one to the German one. With daylight savings the situation in summer was a bit ridiculous: dark until 9 am and sun until 10 pm, it was very confusing as a tourist to have all the stores to open so late in morning and go out to eat dinner so late

I can't imagine what kind of mess would be going to Japan as a tourist on UTC+0

[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's because a lot of the way humans go about their life is based on traditions. Getting everybody to switch from a system that already works pretty well is just a hassle.

Examples:

  • English spelling is faaar from phonetic and children take longer to learn how to spell than in Spanish for example. (though, cough, enough, plough instead of something like thouğ, koff, enaf and the US plow)
  • Metric system adopted globally would streamline a lot of global industries that have no cater to each system.
  • Driving right side everywhere. Sweden switched but asking India to switch makes way less sense.
  • Date formats. Arguably the best if everyone uses ISO 8601 but nobody does.
[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

I do use ISO 8601

[–] zxqwas@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

Most people don't have to deal with booking a meeting a few timezones away or anything else where it would be an advantage on a regular basis.

It's convenient if the date, and possibly weekday, changes at night.

[–] m0darn@lemmy.ca 12 points 3 days ago

So if I'm in Vancouver BC it would go from Friday to Saturday in the mid afternoon? Is Friday night the first night of the weekend or the last night of the work week?

[–] frank@sopuli.xyz 14 points 3 days ago (7 children)

I see this argument all the time. Forget all the tradition, "people like noon near solar noon", all that.

Date changes mid day some places and not others would be a nightmare for so many things.

What're you doing on the Tuesday half of June 15/16th?

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[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 16 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Because the vast majority of people aren't terminally online and/or affected by timezones.

[–] stangel@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Milliseconds since the epoch is the only true time

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[–] davidgro@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Here are some reasons told through what-if.

TL;DR: People like to sleep in the dark generally, and businesses that close are open when more people are awake.

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[–] vandsjov@feddit.dk 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 10 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Because timezones were a result of town specific clocks, which were a result of people liking certain hours happening generally in line with where the sun is, like "noon" which still technically refers to when the sun is at its highest point.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 9 points 3 days ago (7 children)

Because who the hell wants to say it's 11 in the morning while it's dark out?

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