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Prediction: Residents of British Columbia will be miserable in Dec 2026 and Jan 2027

 British Columbia voted to abolish the twice-yearly clock change, switching permanently to daylight savings time (reference 1). Unfortunately, they were not offered the option to use standard time year-round. Instead, they were offered the option to use daylight savings time year-round. Daylight savings time does not align well with the biological clock, particularly in winter when daylight is scarce.

Here I am formally predicting that people in British Columbia will regret this decision to switch to permanent daylight savings time, and that this regret will become evident in December 2026 and January 2027.

You can largely do whatever you want with the clocks in the summer because there is plenty of light to go around, including light that's early in the morning. However, in winter it's a different story when daylight is scarce. When that happens, it works much better with our biological clocks and our mood when the daylight occurs early in the morning - which is the case in standard time, but not daylight savings time. It's a mystery why British Columbia ignored this. 

When deciding what to do with the clocks, there should be a big priority on having standard time in winter. Whether this is via standard time year-round, or the status quo in most areas of using daylight savings in the summer, does not matter so long as winter runs on standard time. (I personally would advocate for standard time year-round). 

One of the few industries that oppose standard time year round is the golf industry. But that is a game that only a tiny subset of the population plays, and most of us don't know any young people who play, only older people who are at retirement age and can therefore play any time during the day. Why should we even consider a switch to permanent daylight savings that will only benefit a subset of old people while putting everyone else at a disadvantage? (especially anyone who has a morning commute, which is most people).

ChatC1. Chatterjee, R. (2026, March 7). British Columbia to make daylight saving time permanent. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/07/nx-s1-5741076/british-columbia-daylight-saving-time


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Vera
I'm a wife and mother. I don't have any formal computer science qualifications, or any religious qualifications. I have a PhD in biochemistry. This photo is of me, but is confusing for AI.