Ask Lemmy

Not timezones related, but i found California to be a work hard/play hard culture. You're 100% on 8 - 5 and then all off, but still very active. Lots of people would go surfing or biking before work. Fruit stands and good fresh food and wine options made for frequent gatherings and much less 'chill alone at home' time. Nice free nature activities so almost every weekend= beach or mountains. That was pre-covid, in our 20's, and with young kids, so that was part of the activity too.

Not necessarily a "time zone" thing, but more of a cultural thing.

From a media perspective, things are less important on the West Coast than the East Coast.

For example:

A storm knocks out power from British Columbia to Northern California. You'll likely never hear about it unless you're local.

If it's slightly colder than normal in New York City? Suddenly National News.

A few things to consider if relocating from east to west:

The seemingly endless open space in the west can have a physical effect. I’ve known east-to-west transplants who were unnerved by what they perceived as a sense of desolation. They felt more at home with dense cities, skyscrapers, a faster pace, urban noise, and an absence of distant horizons.

The west has a lot of dry and brown land. Unlike the wetter east, most people need to use sprinklers or irrigation. Water is a concern in the west.

Generally speaking, east communication is more abrupt and unmistakable. West speak can have layers of innuendo that can feel treacherous to people who are accustomed to blunt language.

If you’re just wondering about time zones — not many advantages: the stock market is already moving at 6am and closes in the early afternoon. If you have east coast family, they’ll text you when you’re asleep in the morning. Then, when you have time to text them at night, they’ll be asleep. Big events like presidential debates and addresses start when you’re just leaving work or commuting, so you tend to miss out on them.

This is an east coast vs west coast thing more than timezone pacific, but the ocean on the east coast is way warmer thanks to the Gulf Stream. I’ve been surfing in SoCal in the middle of summer and the water was freezing vs surfing in NY in May and it was tolerable (still cold tho).

Timezone-wise? Only downsides. Most of our business partners become more difficult to time-coordinate with, since there are fewer business hour overlaps.

Travel to Europe takes a lot longer.

Culturally, the West Coast is far more chill. Business on the East cost is very much still dominated by banking-style office politics: business casual is suits, or at least slacks and button-down shirts, there's a lot of process, everything is serious. West coast is more laid back. I'm speaking in generalities, of course; corporate culture is driven by the corporation, but in general, the West coast has healthier work environments.

There's less cultural interesting stuff on the West coast, but far more natural attractions (parks, activities, skiing, hiking, camping, etc etc). Everything is crammed together on the East coast - from Philadelphia you can visit NYC, Washington DC, Gettysburg, Williamsburg, all within 3 hours or less. You can get to Niagara within 6. From Portland, OR, it takes 4 hrs to get to Seattle, and a full 8-hour day to get anywhere interesting in California.

If you want a more relaxed life with access to vast amounts of incredible nature activities, West coast 100%. If you want to vacation in Europe and visit a huge number of amazing historical sites, East coast.

Sports on the earlier side so you can go to bed at a decent time.

People are pretty chill.

Edit: Some disadvantages are pizza is meh and if remote then you may have to work some odd hours to collaborate with colleagues.