48 Comments
founding

I think the argument for Central is the better argument, and I prefer to NOT spend time complaining about time. The main attraction is the idea that if we stop springing forward and falling back, there will be so.much.less whining and griping that life will be made a little nicer.

Expand full comment

Later sunsets mean we stay up later, but we don't necessarily sleep in more because school and work still start at a set time. So I wouldn't mind switch to Central time zone! This article sums up the issue: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/04/19/how-living-wrong-side-time-zone-can-be-hazardous-your-health/

Expand full comment

Thank you for sharing the link to that great article (with compellingly clear illustrations). It's so important that we frame all discussion of this around biology and health rather than convenience, personal preference, pleasure, and/or tradition.

Expand full comment

We are closer to Chicago as a hub city. Many people in western IN work in IL. More light in the a.m. for children going to school. Central makes the most sense. However, just set it and let it be!!!!

Expand full comment

Chicago should be on Eastern tho.

Expand full comment

Without DST, Lafayette's solar noon is at about 1pm. Chicago should not be Eastern. Indiana probably shouldn't be Eastern.

Expand full comment

Central Time all the way please. I would be nice to watch an evening sporting event on tv that wraps up before 11:30pm.

Expand full comment

I vote for Central. It would be nice if all of Indiana would go Central but I don't that will happen. It makes more sense to me to wake up in the light and go to bed in the dark. I'll just be happy if we don't change time any longer. That never has made any sense to me.

Expand full comment

Definitely go on Central time. I would love to have it lighter in the mornings. We don't need it light until after 10pm at night but having it lighter in the mornings, especially in the winter is a real plus - especially for the school kids! Also, it would be nicer to be on the same time as Chicago and much easier if you have relatives or business on the west coast. Our northwestern counties are already on Central time so we would sync with them.

Expand full comment

There are legitimate and serious reasons to consider this carefully, chiefly concerning health. The science is clear that being on Central Time (and without the ST/DST shift) would be far better for those of us who live as far west as 87º longitude. That would put our latest winter sunrise around 7:15 AM and latest summer sunset around 8:20 PM. For those of us fortunate enough to have our work and/or school schedules related to sunlight, this would be a much healthier alignment.

Expand full comment

I agree with this person, as much as I dislike the 5pm darkness of central time winter, it doesn't last long, and the 10pm sunsets are kinda silly. Let's get our Drive-In-Movie owners to lobby for Central. Birth rates are down, that's going to cost us in 20 years, Central time and Drive in Movies.

Expand full comment

We should be on Central time. However, our Legislators mostly all play golf, so it's just not going to go that way. SMH

Expand full comment

Off subject, Tom Hirschinger of Quincy then Ohio is my Uncle/Godfather. Be well.

Expand full comment

Pretty sure the Tom Hirschinger you mention is my 2nd cousin. His father Joe was my Great Uncle. My Grandfather was George John Hirschinger, Joe's brother. Our common ancestors were their parents, my great-grandparents George Henry Hirschinger and Barbara Rupp Hirschinger of Elkhart, Indiana.

Expand full comment
founding

With the plethora of huge issues facing the nation, they chose this to do unanimously? Central.

Expand full comment

Central time, please!

Expand full comment

Central Time, James Bartlett hits the nail on the head, if we school and work started later than I'm all for more sun in the evening, but that is not how it works. Sun should be up by 7am all year.

Expand full comment

Go to central time.

Expand full comment

The fact that it’s still daylight at 1030 in the evening in the middle of summer makes it hard to get young kids in bed “but dad, it’s still daytime! Why can’t we go to the park?”

That alone is impetus to change.

In 2019 I spent April to Sept in CT and FaceTimed with my wife and kids at night to say good night to them. It would be night time in CT and day time in Indiana in Sept when the kids were trying to go to sleep.

We are so far apart it doesn’t make sense for us to be on Eastern.

Expand full comment

Honestly I liked ct better in the summer and et better in the winter. So I really want to fall back and never change again. But ct is better for drive in movies so I’d have to go that route.

Expand full comment

This was what we called Indiana Time before we were forced to change to Eastern DSL in the summer.

Expand full comment

Yep. The words I have for Mitch are not repeatable in polite society. Who knew that my line in the sand would be Daylight Savings Time

Expand full comment

Hoping that the Indiana General Assembly maintains its policy of accomplishing nothing so that we can stay on Eastern Time and keep the later light

Expand full comment

If we stay on Eastern time and they leave us permanently on daylight savings time, in summers we will continue to have 10:00 p.m. sunsets, and in winter our sunrises will be 9:00 a.m. or later. Neither one of these make any sense to me. Count me very firmly in the central time zone camp.

Expand full comment
founding

Life in the United States begins when the East Coast wakes up. I prefer to be in synch with that time zone.

Expand full comment

Central, definitely. Getting dark for nighttime is important too. Ultimately someone will not be happy, flexible schedules will be key. Hopefully, the flexibility needed in the pandemic helps there.

Expand full comment

I seem to be in the minority - a night person who would prefer Eastern time. Either way, I would be happy to no longer have to change clocks.

Expand full comment
Mar 16, 2022·edited Mar 16, 2022

No question, we stay on Eastern Time. I am so tired of morning people arrogance and superiority — and now, when Congress finally gets its act together on Timezones, they would propose robbing us night owls of any benefit while making the Summer demonstrably worse? Hard pass.

Expand full comment

I'm not a morning person, and I don't think I'm arrogant, but I don't sleep well for a large chunk of late spring through early autumn due to sunlight so late into the evening. Sleep experts generally agree that living with a time zone so out of sync with the natural noon, as we are when on Eastern DSL time, is unhealthy as well.

Expand full comment

If we have a permanent time, it should be as it was for decades before Daniels forced us to start switching. We should go back to Indiana Time, which is essentially Eastern Standard or Central DLS, but all year round. I can't sleep well when it's light out till 10 PM most of the summer!

Expand full comment

The earth is divided into 24 - 15 degrees time zones. Our longitude in Lafayette is 86 degrees. The middle of Illinois is 90 degrees longitude. Indiana has no business in Central time zone.

Expand full comment

Arbitrary longitudinal lines don't matter. Having our clocks as close to 12 PM as possible when the sun is at true noon is what matters. That's Central DSL for us, all year.

Expand full comment

Are you aware the Sun Moves across the sky by seasons. The Earth wobbles slightly. And the axis has moved slightly with the Antarctica closer to the sun. Yes true noon is best if it stayed the same. Tying a clock to high noon is arbitrary and high noon moves every day. It is complicated. Some cultures have high noon at 2:00 P.M. We could go back to the sun dial. And then the trains and planes would never be on time. I am not sure of the time, but high noon moves every day about 4 minutes.

China has only one time zone. The USA has four. Now that is arbitrary.

Expand full comment

On winter drives around Chicago, it sure would stink to be on Central Time in the winter. I loved when we stayed on standard time and the nation did their nonsense, with that I vote for NYC time.

Expand full comment

Eastern standard time (what we had before adopting DST) would be the same as Central Daylight Time, just saying.

Expand full comment

Indiana Time, as it was called, was the same as being Central DSL all year long. Or, the same as being Eastern Standard all year long. Same thing. The Senate bill would put us on Eastern DSL all year long, which Indiana Time was NOT.

Expand full comment

So Dave, what does it take for indiana to go back to Central time? An act of congress?

Expand full comment

Petition the Dept. Of Transportation. We know a guy there.

Expand full comment

Only the feds can change where the time zone boundaries lie. We can ask, but it’s up to the DOT.

Expand full comment
author

Got it. But question is: What’s your opinion?

Expand full comment

Central, naturally

Expand full comment

Central for me, as well

Expand full comment

Yes, but Indiana could choose to be on Eastern Standard all year, which is the equivalent of Central DSL. A loophole, which is what Indiana Time was forever until Mitch Daniels changed it.

Expand full comment

Late light means more evening outdoor activity and sports. Great for kids and adults alike. I absolutely love the evening daylight in Indiana and we need the later light in the winter. pre-teens and teens especially need the light after school. They don't need the early morning light.

Expand full comment

Check with experts and research, you are not correct. You may personally prefer light until 10 pm in the summer, and no sun until almost 9 am in the winter, but it's not healthy for anyone.

Expand full comment