The idea of changing the time between summer and winter dates back to the American scientist Benjamin Franklin in a humorous article in 1748 with the aim of taking advantage of natural sunlight and reducing the use of candles. Although the article at the time was not serious, the instinct sparked controversy.
- Daylight Saving Time Change for the First Time:
The first time change occurred at the beginning of World War I in 1916 by Germany and Austria, where both countries advanced the clock in order to reduce fuel consumption. After that, the idea began to spread, and other countries followed suit, such as the US and UK.
- Disadvantages of advancing and delaying time:
It confuses some businesses, especially those that link international companies, in addition to flight timing
The biological clock in the human body is disturbed with each advance and delay of time.
In addition to the danger of adopting daylight saving time permanently, there is the danger of road accidents, as adopting daylight saving time permanently in Europe, for example, means that people will go to work in the morning while it is still dark, in addition to the problem of lack of sleep and the serious health problems that will result from it, which will negatively affect work productivity.
- Countries that do not change their time:
However, the system of changing the time between summer and winter is not an international system at all, as there are many countries whose time system is fixed in both summer and winter, including the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC), where Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain adopt a system of three hours plus Greenwich Mean Time, as well as the United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman, which adopt a time system plus four hours plus Greenwich Mean Time, in addition to other countries such as Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, etc.
- European movement to cancel winter time:
Unifying summer and winter time is an idea that is repeated every year in the European Parliament, but the matter fails every time so far. It is an issue that does not enjoy consensus in the European Union countries, and the issue has remained pending for years.
- Greenwich Mean Time (UTC):
It is the international time standard located at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. Noon is the moment when the sun is at the Greenwich meridian.
The coordinated time standard between countries depends on calculating the time between two countries based on Greenwich Mean Time. If both countries are on the same side of the Greenwich meridian, the numbers are subtracted from each other to find out the difference and the time in the other city or country. However, if the two countries are on different sides of the Greenwich meridian, the numbers are added together and divided by 15, which is the amount of degrees that the planet Earth rotates in every hour.
Perhaps it is no longer useful to change the time for the same reasons that caused the change of time during the First World War. The world today does not suffer from the energy shortage that existed then, with the development that leads to saving energy that we witness today and the nature of the system of life that has changed greatly and quickly, especially recently, which makes the global trend towards cancelling the work of two times during the year something that must be reconsidered, of course, taking into consideration each country.