During most of the year, most of my blog traffic here goes to the home page, the DST legislation page and the research page. But right around the time changes, there is one page that rules them all: the DST memes.
This year, I am trying something new, putting together a twitter thread with all the new stuff. I am also putting all the same ones in this post, but I hope by doing this perhaps a few new people will follow the LockTheClock account on Twitter. What I am hoping is that we can convert some of our shared pain of clock changing and joy in the absurdity of it all into a bit more momentum to actually fix this.
It is true that if we fix this, we will no longer have the absurdity of the clock changing. But that will be OK for all of the lives saved.
So, here are the new memes for the 2021 Fall Back season:
This one may be my favorite new DST meme for 2021. The look on the face of that animal, and it is hard to even tell what kind of animal it is. (tweet)
This one is painful. It hurts to look at it, and the reality of it hurts. I include it only because it is so true. (tweet)
This meme is so used, or so overused, that you knew there'd be a DST version. Still, it gets used because it is funny. (tweet)
This is another classic meme image, but it gets to a point that is almost too on point: We don’t get enough sleep! Instead of using #FallBack as a way to catch up on sleep, many of us just end up the same amount of sleep deprived. (tweet)
This one isn't so much funny as poignant. Even @AOC has tweeted about the importance for overnight workers to make sure they get paid for all the hours they work. (I'm sure she'd be a yes vote to #LockTheClock.) (tweet)
This may be my favorite new meme of the #FallBack 2021 season. The whole thing of changing the clocks makes us think about why we do it, what time even is, and how time does slip away. (tweet)
In my eight years of working on this, I don’t think that I have ever seen a meme or run across the idea that Daylight Saving should be offset with Daylight Spending. Brilliant! And I don’t think it was #DST that killed the dinosaurs... (tweet)
This one cut a little too close to the bone for me. I love sitting on a couch. Is my existence pointless? Well, maybe if we fix DST, my existence will have meant something. Maybe. (tweet)
If elected officials were all parents of small children, we would have fixed DST years ago. (tweet)
I have been studying and working to fix Daylight Saving Time for eight years now, and I really can’t say with any authority why it is we have it, or why we can’t get rid of it. I know lots of stuff, but it is hard to take such a mess of a situation and sum it up in any way that makes sense. That doesn't mean I don't have hope. I do, but it is weird. (tweet)
With most of these, the comedy comes because of the truth it holds. They expose the absurdity of it all. This one is funny, but not actually true. There are some people who prefer more light in the morning, and they don't mind chaining the clocks to get there. A lot of people don't like the time we use in the winter, but they don't really mind making that change because they get an extra hour of sleep over the weekend. It's the changing of the clock in the Spring that is deadly. (tweet)
This is not a meme, but it is clear when listening to the first part of this monologue that the ideas I started pushing eight years ago are now mainstream:
Well, that is it for this year, but if you want more, there are some timeless classics in a series of DST meme posts. I will also be writing a “behind the scenes” with Jon Lovett post after I get some breakfast, so be sure to check back for that. And if you would like to see an end to the clock changing, I really hope you’ll follow this account on twitter. Thanks for that.
And, thanks for reading! Enjoy your extra hour this weekend, however you decide to spend it.
