this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2023
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Isn't that just time zones again?
No because if you're talking to someone on the other side of the planet (thanks internet), you can schedule some sort of event with them without having to look up the time difference before hand
Yeah but you need to know when they'd be sleeping, for example, so you still need to figure something out related to time differences.
You both just have present your working or availability hours beforehand. Honestly this works better for me than someone assuming I'm available for an 8am meeting. I live on the US east coast, but my sleeping schedule is more west coast.
Yeah I’m in the us east but work in a factory so I have to explain it anyways
What if you don't want to ask for some specific reason? Time zones!
Checkmate!
Nope, that was a check! The reason of not wanting to ask for availability periods still exists with time zones.
But you are making assumptions which are not really true anywhere. Working hours I Spain and Germany are already white different. Main reason is of course that they share the same time zone by law, but are not geographically in the same time zone. But there are some additional differences in culture which extend this effect.
Sure, but that still means you are not reaching someone by phone at work during 4 hours of you previously mentioned 8-17 Windows.
As someone currently working from Ireland with my usual office in Germany (laptop still configured this way) with a Team from India and DST ending next week, I would prefer to drop the calculations and just remember when each colleague approximately comes online. That is not the same for each colleague and day anyways.
But if my plane lands at 9am local time, I know it's the morning at least and I can plan my day appropriately (stores will be open or opening soon instead of just closing for example)
That information won't be lost, though. It just would be expressed differently. They are no longer in a +8 hour time zone, which given your own location in a +1 hour zone would lead to a most likely open time of 8 - 8 + 1 = 1 til 17 - 8 + 1 = 10 your time, but in an area where opening hours are most likely between 0100 and 1000.
There is still a lookup, but no longer a lookup of time difference of the area, but a lookup of usual business hours in the area.
I would say not much different from looking up whether they are in the +0530 or +0630 part of India. I guess the perception of convenience also depends on what you are used to seeing.
There's always one check in that situation. Whether it's business hours or timezone difference. And you still need to check business hours even in our current system, so might as well just simplify it (which of course isn't happening any time soon).
Better yet let business hours be based on daylight, no need to wonder if things are open or not based on the sun's position in the sky.
That's always kind of been an illusion. For lots of places, especially around the equator, it gets hot enough that expecting everyone will work the same 9-5 schedule, and businesses will all be open at the same time, is kind of stupid. Places like arizona, it would make sense if instead everyone used a siesta schedule, or if the schedule was shifted way forward in the day, from the later night to early morning, in the much cooler parts. And that's not even something that's really dependent on time zones, that's just dependent on variable climate. I see elimination of time zones, as more of an admittal that how we track that sort of thing is arbitrary anyways, so it's probably better in my mind to eliminate any pretense of it being an objective system.
I meant less evening/night shifts and more like. get up at 5:00 and stay up until 3:00 pm or so, with work obviously not being in the latter portion of the day, which is when it really starts to heat up ime. Seasonal depression and other related health issues we can cure with vitamin D, as they've been doing in the scandi countries since like the 70's, so I don't really understand how you'd be getting more health issues. If anything I would think that would be reduced as people working physical labor jobs would be less prone to heat stroke and exhaustion. You know, in places where you're working outdoors in 110 degree weather, hottest part of the day, after having already worked for like 5 hours. At the very least I think a siesta schedule would make more sense, which there's maybe a little bit more historical precedent for.
Kind of, but not exactly. Those are the hours their businesses are open. However, this takes one variable out of the formula, which is calculating the time difference. Rather than having to know the time difference and business hours, you'd only have to know the business hours. Also, it would be even easier if you just shared your availability, which is what matters anyway, but you don't have to calculate the time difference. There's only one variable to communicate, which is the universal time they would be available. It's super simple.