When Did The Clock Become A Dictator
By DW Davis
@DWDavis (25797)
United States
March 11, 2016 6:47am CST
During the Industrial Revolution humanity surrendered much of its independence to a new unfeeling dictator that had no heart or feelings. That dictator was the clock, and its voice was the factory whistle. Our servitude to the clock first began with the textile industry in England when water powered machines began to replace cottage industry spinsters and weavers. Workers no longer stayed in the home, telling time by the rising and setting of the Sun. Instead they got up each day to go into the factory and answered to the whistles all day.
This was the beginning. Now, all over the world, we are dictated to by the clock. For instance, in most of the US this Saturday, and I imagine in other areas too, we will turn our clocks ahead one hour. (Okay, purists, technically it will be early Sunday morning.) Thus will begin Daylight Savings Time. I have to wonder if we still need to keep changing our clocks twice a year or has the need for DST disappeared in this day and age of electric lights and technology. If I had my druthers, I'd rather switch to Daylight Savings Time year round. Dark mornings don't bother me and I'd appreciate a longer period of daylight in the afternoons during the winter.
Do you observe daylight savings time where you live? How do you feel about it?
11 people like this
10 responses
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
12 Mar 16
It is a nuicance altering clocks and video record times twice a year
1 person likes this
@HebrewGreekStudies (1646)
• Canada
14 Mar 16
Here some have made the suggestion of formally scrapping it. i'm more or less one of those ppl who just think about it the morning after when my internal clock is either cursing me for staying up too late the night before, or blessing me for getting an hour more sleep the night after.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
11 Mar 16
I heard once that the real reason why school became mandatory for children in the US during the late 1800s was not for education but to get them used to the factory work routine and the school ring prepared for the factory whistle. Ever hear that?
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
11 Mar 16
I'd not heard that, but in some states I can believe it was the impetuous. Massachusetts was the first state to make it law in 1852. Federal laws requiring compulsory education didn't come around until the mid 20th century and were largely an attempt to Americanize immigrant children and shut down Catholic and other parochial schools. The KKK was, at the time, an ardent supporter of federally funded public education because they, among many other groups in the US, were vehemently anti-Catholic. Some states tried to pass laws requiring all children to attend public schools, effectively shutting down all private and parochial schools, but the Supreme Court struck down such laws.
@Tampa_girl7 (54714)
• United States
11 Mar 16
I'd rather have a longer day in winter too.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238277)
• Walnut Creek, California
11 Mar 16
We do have Daylight Savings Time here in California. I don't care about it much. Interestingly, I try to live at least a part of my life oblivious to the clock. I don't wear a watch. I refinish my loudspeakers when I want to. I make it to class, but in my other main job, I do my progress notes when I want to, and turn them in when I want to (well before the deadline). Maybe I'm trying to be "pre-industrial man."
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43573)
• Denver, Colorado
11 Mar 16
Like you, I would like Daylight Savings year round.
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