Do We Really Need Time Zones?

In this video, I look at the question: "Do we really need time zones?". Time zones cause a lot of problems, and in the last few years, some have called for them to be completely abolished, suggesting instead that the entire world shold just use the eact same time.

I start this video by very briefly talking about how time zones came to be, before outlining some of the potential upside to a world without time zones... I finish the video off by looking at some of the difficulties of ditching time zones, arguing that actually, it's less complicated with time zones.

[briandoolittle]

Love the second segment. You really covered all the important parts of daylight savings.

[GregoryKarastergios]

Surprised you actually made this video after almost 5 years

[bloodspilla]

See you all on May 22nd, 2021 when WonderWhy posts his next video

[vooran]

I don't see how the removing of timezones would eradicate the traffic jams seeing how you made the same argument that we'd just wake up the same time as before sun wise, we would still have our work hours as usual and people would still end their days at the same time. 8 hours is still 8 hours even if we wake up at 18:00 or 13:00 =P


Although as a whole liked the video =D

[WonderWhy]

This was no easy task. In fact, this was one of my one challenging videos to date, and is quite a bit different to the kind of video I normally make. A video was a argumentative style, which relied a lot on opinion and conjecture, as opposed to clearly defined and established facts, was not easy.

I start the video by trying to make the case for abolishing time zones and the potential upside of having one time for the entire globe, before then transitioning into making the case IN FAVOUR of the status quo, in which I suggest that a universal time zone may in fact cause more problems than it solves.

Another reason this video is quite different from most, is the use of stock footage. Since this video isn't about history or geography, there were far fewer maps, graphs, timelines, etc. to use, and so I understand that this video contains a lot of 'filler' footage that isn't directly related to what I'm saying. This was necessary given the nature of the video.

Anyway, this video took me quite a bit out of my comfort zone, but I think that's definitely a good thing. I always want to try new things and experiment, and if that means the odd video flops, it's a risk that I think is worth taking. I hope you guys did enjoy the video, and if not... well, I doubt I'll be making many more like this, so hopefully the next one will be more to your taste!

Feel free to share your opinion on whether or not we need time zones! I'd love to hear them.


Thanks to everyone for watching and subscribing!

[jakovvodanovic]

I liked the second part of the video because it pointed out all the logical mistakes made in the first part.

[WolvesBrandon]

Me, from England: "I woke up at 7 am today"
My friend, from Australia: "Is that... is that bad?"

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

My country used to have its own time zone until President Moon persuaded me to change it back to Japan time. Those were the days....

[KasabianFan]

9:45 Myanmar doesn’t use imperial. It uses its own measurements system.

[dudewaldo]

You totally changed my mind dude. I've been thinking about a universal time zone for a while and now I see that indeed, having the sun high at noon is far more important than the benefits you would gain

[TyrannoNoddy]

"Do we need daylight savings?"
"NO"

excellent

[kingbibihabibi]

For travel and coordinating meetings and events across timezones it might sound easier to just use one universal time, but in practice all this would do is require that people learn what arbitrary universal times people in other places sleep, eat, etc. Timezones actually function as a useful shorthand for this now by lining up the same components of the day with the same numbers, so we should just keep them.


For instance, a tourist guidebook might now say "the time in Sydney is UTC+10." Easy, you can do the conversion in your head. Without timezones the book would have to say "In Sydney, people generally sleep between 09:00 and 17:00 and eat lunch between 01:00 and 04:00."

[RealLifeWrld]

9:45 UK - Can't decide it wants to use the metric system or not so uses an awkward mix of both. 😂😂

This made my day and it is absolutely right.🤣🤣

[isirlaughsalot]

When wonderwhy uploads, a puppy is born.

[Jameman]

Daylight Savings can go straight to hell

[mcdrums]

I wish I could give you another 👍🏻 for the Daylight Savings Time answer.

[Kardia_of_Rhodes]

It should be noted that Myanmar doesn't use Imperial Units, but rather "Traditional" Units that happen to be close to Imperial.
But the point still stands, they choose not to use Metric.

[quinny-bnjw]

Yup all this would do would change our question from “what time is it in Australia” to “Are people in Australia typically awake are 10:00?”

[exeterra]

Cool video...



Now imma go hibernate for another 6 or so months until the next one

[dontaskiwasbored]

The only video I've found so far that takes anything other than "but it would make it super easy to talk to the other side of the world" into account. 99% of people are not regularly talking to the other side of the world, and the way we do things right now is just a couple of notches away from stupid simple already. Good mention of "use UTC if you need it" too.