i hate daylight savings time

Daylight Savings Time, which just happened 3-Nov-2024, is something I've never liked. And I'm pretty sure most other people can't stand it either. Both smartphones and the older feature phones auto-update their clocks for DST and always have, (or do they? More on that in a moment..) but there are a lot of clocks that don't, and this is how I personally deal with it.

Above is my Casio W213. Like most Casio digital watches, it has absolutely no ability at all to automatically adjust for DST when it occurs. Every time DST happens, the hour has to be reset manually.

I'm actually okay with this directly due to the fact I have to set the time myself.

Years ago, phones did not update the clock for DST on time. The way things were supposed to work is that on the day of DST at 2am, a time signal was sent from the network and the phone updated itself. That didn't happen. The phone's clock didn't make the adjustment for several hours. Anywhere from 2 to 24 hours after the DST change did the phone's clock actually update itself. And bear in mind this happened even if you were in your local area and weren't traveling between time zones.

When I manually adjust the time on my Casio, I know it has been changed properly. I don't have to guess as to whether the clock on my wrist is correct or not. It is.

Were I a traveling man...

If I traveled across the US routinely, yes I would wear a "world time" Casio. Probably the AE1000W just because I like that one better than the AE1200W even though the feature set is identical between the two. I can easily track 5 time zones with that watch with ease and can switch between zones with just 1 button...

...and I would not trust the phone's clock at all. The phone is supposed to auto-adjust its clock depending on where you are, but I'd always be second guessing whether that clock is correct or not. With a Casio, again, I know it's correct.

And let's just say I took a flight to another part of the US in a different time zone, and my phone didn't update its clock. Would a reboot of the phone fix that? Possibly not. In that instance, all I can do is wait and HOPE the phone updates its clock. Well, I'm not waiting around for that, so again, I keep a Casio on the wrist so I have something I know is telling me the correct time for where I am.

It is one of those "if you want the job done right, do it yourself" things

The clocks I have to manually adjust DST for are wristwatch, microwave and car. I'm now okay with this. My reasoning is that while changing clocks to adjust for DST is annoying, it's even more annoying to deal with a clock that's supposed to auto-adjust for it and doesn't.

Changing the clocks myself is basically the lesser of two evils. It's either take a chance with an auto-adjusting clock that may or may not work, or adjust a clock manually which I absolutely know does work.

For the clocks I have to change myself whenever DST happens, that now doesn't bother me as much as it used to.

Published 2024 Nov 5