Comment on xkcd #2846: Daylight Saving Choice
Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 1 year agoI never understand the anti timezone argument… Right now I know that across the world they’ll be working somewhere between 8h and 17h local like anywhere else in the world, so I do some quick math and I know when that is in relation to me. Without time zones I need to be actively informed at what time someone across the world is working in order to know when I can contact them…
That information won’t be lost, though. It just would be expressed differently. They are no longer in a +8 hour time zone, which given your own location in a +1 hour zone would lead to a most likely open time of 8 - 8 + 1 = 1 til 17 - 8 + 1 = 10 your time, but in an area where opening hours are most likely between 0100 and 1000.
There is still a lookup, but no longer a lookup of time difference of the area, but a lookup of usual business hours in the area.
But right now business hours (which is what time zones are used for the most) are the same everywhere, that’s much easier than figuring out if this part is India has its business hours from 3 to 11 or from 4 to 12.
I would say not much different from looking up whether they are in the +0530 or +0630 part of India. I guess the perception of convenience also depends on what you are used to seeing.
But no matter which one they’re in, you know that by calling at 11 local (no matter if you’re using the right time zone) you’ll be calling during business hours.
That’s always kind of been an illusion. For lots of places, especially around the equator, it gets hot enough that expecting everyone will work the same 9-5 schedule, and businesses will all be open at the same time, is kind of stupid. Places like arizona, it would make sense if instead everyone used a siesta schedule, or if the schedule was shifted way forward in the day, from the later night to early morning, in the much cooler parts. And that’s not even something that’s really dependent on time zones, that’s just dependent on variable climate. I see elimination of time zones, as more of an admittal that how we track that sort of thing is arbitrary anyways, so it’s probably better in my mind to eliminate any pretense of it being an objective system.
I pointed out in another comment that even with a split schedule, the morning/day part matches pretty well with what we expect when thinking business hours (9 to 14 in Spain).
Schneemensch@programming.dev 1 year ago
But you are making assumptions which are not really true anywhere. Working hours I Spain and Germany are already white different. Main reason is of course that they share the same time zone by law, but are not geographically in the same time zone. But there are some additional differences in culture which extend this effect.
Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Sure, but it’s still true that businesses operate during hours similar to any other places in the world. Even in Spain, ~9 to ~14 then ~17 to ~20, the day time hours are still in the “rest of the world bracket”.
Schneemensch@programming.dev 1 year ago
Sure, but that still means you are not reaching someone by phone at work during 4 hours of you previously mentioned 8-17 Windows.
As someone currently working from Ireland with my usual office in Germany (laptop still configured this way) with a Team from India and DST ending next week, I would prefer to drop the calculations and just remember when each colleague approximately comes online. That is not the same for each colleague and day anyways.
Takumidesh@lemmy.world 1 year ago
But if my plane lands at 9am local time, I know it’s the morning at least and I can plan my day appropriately (stores will be open or opening soon instead of just closing for example)