why are there multiple timezones?

[wasdwasd23]

Why don't we have one time zone that is the same everywhere, however in some places in the world i.e. Australia it would be light at 1am and dark at 1pm. This would therefore create a less confusing situation between people in different countries. Surely that's a more effective way of doing things.

 

The time zone would be the current time at the ecuador equator, therefore above the equator and below the equator would both be the same time. North for example may be light at 1am and South may be dark at 1am.

[Lurking]

May as well use decimal based times (like the French attempt of using 10 hour days) and get rid of the summer/winter time.

 

People can't deal with change. So your logical idea will not be adopted.... I don't know your location. But in the US people can't even deal with 24 hours,which wouldn't require any actual change. 

 

I don't know if all navies do that, but some use the standard time in all ships. Like German Navy used Berlin time regardless of actual location. It would have been hard to coordinate wolf pack attacks by u-boats if every captain is two miles away in a different time zone.  I suspect air forces do the same. Same for space ships.

 

Before the railway each town had its own time since it wasn't possible or necessary to coordinate times between towns. And a central clock tower or similar was most people's way knowing the time. Now with much faster travel than the train and instant communication, a single time zone makes sense. 

[starsmine]

14 minutes ago, wasdwasd23 said:

The time zone would be the current time at the ecuador equator, therefore above the equator and below the equator would both be the same time. North for example may be light at 1am and South may be dark at 1am.

wait huh?

Do you have a globe in your house? set it up in a dark room, and light it up with a flashlight. I want you to see something. 

[dilpickle]

This has been proposed before and it would only make things more difficult for daily life. If you stop and think about it hopefully you can understand why.

 

Using your Australia example lets say you go there for vacation. Now you've got to memorize a whole new time schedule. With time zones all you need to do is adjust your clock and everything is the same.

 

There is already a universal time standard for applications that need it.

[Tan3l6]

 It's a bit easier to tell difference between places and to orientate. Besides the other things...

[wasdwasd23]

29 minutes ago, Lurking said:

May as well use decimal based times (like the French attempt of using 10 hour days) and get rid of the summer/winter time.

 

People can't deal with change. So your logical idea will not be adopted.... I don't know your location. But in the US people can't even deal with 24 hours,which wouldn't require any actual change. 

 

I don't know if all navies do that, but some use the standard time in all ships. Like German Navy used Berlin time regardless of actual location. It would have been hard to coordinate wolf pack attacks by u-boats if every captain is two miles away in a different time zone.  I suspect air forces do the same. Same for space ships.

 

Before the railway each town had its own time since it wasn't possible or necessary to coordinate times between towns. And a central clock tower or similar was most people's way knowing the time. Now with much faster travel than the train and instant communication, a single time zone makes sense. 

are you sure its a "logical idea" or was this sarcasm?

 

[thrasher_565]

time is based on when the sun comes up and down well that changes thow the year how much light you have per day.

 

 

[Tan3l6]

Although I deleted it from my post earlier I still think that time zones are a good addition to longitude and latitude.

Otherwise we would all be "here" at "about tea time" or something like it.

 

(Another ting is the seasonal summer-time and winter-time transitions (daylight savings). Who needs those?)

[Eigenvektor]

57 minutes ago, wasdwasd23 said:

The time zone would be the current time at the ecuador equator, therefore above the equator and below the equator would both be the same time. North for example may be light at 1am and South may be dark at 1am.

Time zones generally change east to west, not north to south. Meaning time above and below the equator is usually the same already, so long as you stay on the same longitude.

 

We already have a universal time standard called UTC. It is used in places where it makes sense (e.g. air travel and anything to do with computers). For everyday life, it would just make everything more complicated.

 

It doesn't matter where someone lives, if you tell them you get up at 5 am, they understand that's pretty early. If UTC was used they'd first have to check where you are to understand whether that's early or late or anywhere in between.

 

Nor would it make international meetings any easier. Just because you don't have to translate a meeting at 1 pm your time to some other time doesn't mean it might still be middle of the night for some other participant. If you convert 1 pm ET to e.g. 7 pm CET at least it's intuitive that people might not actually be working that late.

[BrandonLatzig]

My only question is why aren't timezones straight lines

[Lurking]

11 hours ago, BrandonLatzig said:

My only question is why aren't timezones straight lines

They follow geographical and political borders to prevent a region or country not being split up to the greatest extent. 

 

Edit: this podcast about railroads gives a good history lesson on time zones:

Check out this Podcast: Chapter 57: America's Railroad Age https://player.fm/1BNMFHB