this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2024
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Because it makes getting an intuitive sense of what solar time it is somewhere harder.
Can I call my grandma in a different country? Hmm what time is average midnight there. Okay 8 (so far, same thing as looking up a timezone), and it's 18:00 now, so 10 hours after midnight, which is like my 23:00. Needlessly complicated with extra steps for the average person.
Sure, you can say, I'll call you X and that will mean the same thing everywhere, but does not have any information about solar time. And these days, it's automatically converted if you use a calendar (which you should). This is the point of programming, to make the USERS life easier, not the dev. The end is more important than the means, I think we can agree.
Or: what time is it where my grandma is? Okay, cool, I have a sense of what that is immediately after knowing the answer.
There are reasons we do things this way. Working roughly to solar times has more benefits than being able to say a time and it mean the same moment everywhere.
I say we leave things the way they are, works okay.
Just ask once what time is midday, and do some math
Which I think we can all agree is more work than what we currently need to.
It's not just one addition, it's 2 operations following knowing what time midnight is to understand what the solar time it is: what time is it now, minus what time is their midnight, and then you have to add that back to what your midnight is to get a sense of the time. Or you just start thinking in solar time WHICH IS WHAT WE ALREADY DO.
That's 2 calculations. Currently we do 0.
Innately knowing what time means in films, talking to people over the phone, going to a new country. It would be a huge pain in the arse.
"They met up at 13:00“ great. So where are they in this film? Forcing exposition where currently you might let it be vague.
People who advocate for one timezone simply haven't thought it through.
Ohh the "what time is it in films" argument is good, haven't heard that one before, thanks