Would a single, global time zone be more efficient?

N1KF · 2016-04-12 02:50:14

Time zones cause lots of problems. As the world becomes more and more connected, people being able to properly communicate between different locations and cultures is more important than ever. No need to have inconvenient time zone selectors, or having to state a date with people having to individual translate between time zones. Traveling on schedules would be easier. Of course, this comes with downsides—people can no longer say that "12" is daytime, and there is no global idea of what a certain hour of the day represents. Additionally, there would be a long and tedious conversion process. What do you think? Which would be better?

32OrtonEdge32dh · 2016-04-12 03:00:17

N1KF wrote:

Time zones cause lots of problems. As the world becomes more and more connected, people being able to properly communicate between different locations and cultures is more important than ever. No need to have inconvenient time zone selectors, or having to state a date with people having to individual translate between time zones. Traveling on schedules would be easier. Of course, this comes with downsides—people can no longer say that "12" is daytime, and there is no global idea of what a certain hour of the day represents. Additionally, there would be a long and tedious conversion process. What do you think? Which would be better?

Changing what we call a time of day doesn't instantly change the millions of circadian rhythms in that time zone. People will still sleep at night and be awake during the day. The potential benefits (almost none) are clearly outweighed by the drawbacks (conversion process, adjusting to different hours being different times of day in different places, etc.). Travelling wouldn't be any easier, you will still take the same amount of time to adjust to the new day/night cycle. Translating time from one zone to another is trivial, especially in the age where you can Google it.

Different55 · 2016-04-12 03:40:14

N1KF wrote:

Time zones cause lots of problems. As the world becomes more and more connected, people being able to properly communicate between different locations and cultures is more important than ever. No need to have inconvenient time zone selectors, or having to state a date with people having to individual translate between time zones. Traveling on schedules would be easier. Of course, this comes with downsides—people can no longer say that "12" is daytime, and there is no global idea of what a certain hour of the day represents. Additionally, there would be a long and tedious conversion process. What do you think? Which would be better?

Humans aren't nocturnal. Not all jobs are indoors. Lots of jobs are best done during the day time. Those jobs would need to continue being done in the day time, so those people are still affected by their current time zones. For them, all a global time zone would mean is that they are just ripped out of sync with the rest of the world. The way time zones are set up right now isn't perfect, their borders could use a little straightening out, especially over towards the east, but they're the better solution.

EDIT: nvm I thought you meant not just syncing everyone's time zone but syncing when everyone was usually asleep and everything too, and just ignoring the local time of day entirely.

Pingohits · 2016-04-12 03:41:13

actually, it would be worse

consider that the single, global time zone is based off of Greenwich Mean Time (Universal Time)

someone in the middle of Alaska would watch the sunrise, agreeing that the single, global time zone has already been inputted and agreed on, at 3:00 PM while people in China would be having dinner. This is all done at 3:00 PM.

this would mean people around the world would have to have different sleep times based upon when light rises and falls. People in New York would wake up at 11:00 AM and go to sleep at 4:00 AM. imagine how confusing conversations about time would be.

i see your point about meetings being simplified, but the factor of when someone is awake still plays a role.

Kirby · 2016-04-12 05:22:15

It would be more confusing imo. If you know the time zones, or at least kinda know them, you can quickly do the math in your head. It'd be pretty obvious before even doing the math too, if you're early in the morning, and you add a few hours, it'll be the afternoon. If there aren't time zones you don't really have a way of knowing what time of day it is where that person is. Conversations would go
"Hey"
"Yo"
"What time is it over there?"
"3 pm"
"Uh... What part of the day?"
"Like... Midday I think"

I dunno, I just feel like it would be more confusing to convert between what time of day it is in your head if it was all one timezone

I don't really see how many uses a global time zone would have or how it would be better other than ee contest things

Pingohits, Hexagon

hummerz5 · 2016-05-15 22:08:08

I feel that a single time zone would surely be efficient, but only in certain contexts. Just as how our current system is more efficient.

Having localized time has worked (and will continue in the future) because the majority of us don't cross these boundaries in daily conversation or other routines. (Speaking from experience)

Having unilateral time would help people who need to cross these boundaries

Harmonious

Official Everybody Edits Forums

#1 2016-04-12 02:50:14

Would a single, global time zone be more efficient?

#2 2016-04-12 03:00:17

Re: Would a single, global time zone be more efficient?

#3 2016-04-12 03:40:14, last edited by Different55 (2016-04-12 03:48:43)

Re: Would a single, global time zone be more efficient?

#4 2016-04-12 03:41:13

Re: Would a single, global time zone be more efficient?

#5 2016-04-12 05:22:15, last edited by Kirby (2016-04-12 05:23:40)

Re: Would a single, global time zone be more efficient?

#6 2016-05-15 22:08:08

Re: Would a single, global time zone be more efficient?

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