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24-Hour Clock as a Standard

benhollberg

benhollberg

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 8, 2010
2,170
7
I think that twenty-four hour time clock should be made a standard. I just don't see why not. I am not just talking about government and militaries, most already have it as a standard.

Are there other countries around the world where the standard for everyone is 24-hour clock?

Thoughts about changing the U.S.?
 
The 24-hour clock is already the standard for official and military purposes (even something as mundane as a traffic ticket must be written in 24-hour format in most jurisdictions).

This is one of those things that cuts either way. There isn't much of an advantage to the 24-hour clock when you can see the sun outside. Most people don't live the kind of life that is well served by a 24-hour clock.

That said, I use one on my phone and computer. I don't think it honestly does much, beyond help me think of a day as more linear as opposed to cyclical. I think it does nothing for me; it's just a matter of personal preference.
 
I just checked it out on Wikipedia, according to them there are a lot of countries that use the 24-hour clock already as a standard.
This system is the most commonly used time notation in the world today. The 12-hour clock is however still dominant in a handful of countries, particularly in Australia, Canada (except Quebec), India, the Philippines, Pakistan, and the United States. In many countries, both time systems are used, although 12-hour time is mostly used in speech for ease of use, and 24 hour time is preferred in writing.
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Personally I have always used 24-hour time on everything I've used. I don't know what got me started as a child but it is just normal for me now.
 
I like the 12 hour clock, it's much easier to use in my opinion, but living in the United States that's what I was raised on.

I think it's like the metric system, probably less than half of all Americans know how to use it well and most of our society is geared towards our own system of measurement. The same thing really applies to the 24-hour clock.


It'd just be an unnecessary pain to switch over. Why make people learn something new all over the nation when there's already something that works?
 
I live in the US but I always use 24hr time. I have it on my watch, Macs, iPhone, iPad, etc.

The reason I started using it was because my dad was a firefighter and they used 24hr time. Then when I used to work at McDonalds as a kid the time clock where you punch in and out was in 24hr time. And now I am a firefighter and we use 24hr time. The railroad I work at uses 12hr format tough. I wish they used 24.
 
Hastings101 said:
I think it's like the metric system, probably less than half of all Americans know how to use it well and most of our society is geared towards our own system of measurement. The same thing really applies to the 24-hour clock.

It'd just be an unnecessary pain to switch over. Why make people learn something new all over the nation when there's already something that works?
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I bet it would be way easier to switch to the 24-hour clock than to switch to the metric system in the U.S.. I do think they should switch to metric as well though.
 
I like the 12 hour because currently its a lot easier for me to just glance and see the time and since I was raised on it, I have to think about the time with a 24 hour clock. I think the problem with metric is that 90% of the US is all imperial and have trouble associating things. Im in physics now and I have trouble with like what a kilogram is in pounds, just really nothing to compare the two unless you know. Ex. I have no idea how much 30kg would be if someone said it...
 
CalBoy said:
The 24-hour clock is already the standard for official and military purposes (even something as mundane as a traffic ticket must be written in 24-hour format in most jurisdictions).
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Correct. In fact, when I was working as a deputy in Florida pretty much all police reports had to have time written in the 24-hour format.

I can use either format, although I do tend to use the 12-hour format almost all of the time.
 
Eh. I've got nothing against the 24-hour clock, but I just don't see any major disadvantages to the 12-hour clock. My analog watch still only goes to 12. :)
 
I prefer the 24 hour clock.
funny though. As a kid, when we moved into our new house the only clock in our kitchen was on the oven, and that was in 24 hour format. I don't know why but as a 7 year old it fascinated me and I just adopted it there and then.

Phonetically I say "5 o' clock", but I process times in 24 hours and then convert to 12 hour.
 
benhollberg said:
I think that twenty-four hour time clock should be made a standard. I just don't see why not. I am not just talking about government and militaries, most already have it as a standard.

Are there other countries around the world where the standard for everyone is 24-hour clock?

Thoughts about changing the U.S.?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't faze me. I already configure my machines for 24H mode when possible. It is the more logical choice.
 
Hell for a while I was confused about the 12 hour time system on its own. I had clockwise and counter clockwise backwards because my pop thought it was neat to own a backwards running wall clock for the early part of my childhood.
 
Switching over to 24 hour time would be easy enough but honesty I like the 12 hour format. It require less mental work to deal with the 13-24 time on an analog clock since since that only have 12 numbers for easy 1/2 of the day. Now for digital it is easier.

Personal I have no issue putting PM or AM after times.
 
Just subtract 12 from the time > 12 noon, i.e. 13 - 12 = 1 pm simples.

Dunno why but this is just second nature to me.

12hr time seems a bit childish, plus when writing it you have to denote AM or PM, proper time or 24hr time, you don't :)
 
It's simpler for most people who are used to 12-hour clocks to stick with 12-hour clocks, but I enjoy that extra split-second it takes me to read a 24-hour clock or watch, so I use it.

It may not sound like a big deal, but this little bit of extra effort is good and healthy for your brain. Sometimes, I will use my left hand to grab something, since I'm right-handed (left-brained), and the right half of my brain probably wouldn't mind a bit of exercise.
 
I like my clocks being in 24h format, but I speak 12h format. To say "Sixteen hundred" rather than "4pm" is a bit weird.

Maybe if everyone adopts the 24h clock, and says "Five past Sixteen" for 1605 etc, then it'd be alright.
 
Despite using the 24 hour clock over the past 2 years for flight training, the 12 hour clock still comes natural to me. I find the 12 hour clock to be simpler and easier to understand.
 
CalBoy said:
There isn't much of an advantage to the 24-hour clock when you can see the sun outside.
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Or if you're able to write "am" or "pm" after the time.

benhollberg said:
I bet it would be way easier to switch to the 24-hour clock than to switch to the metric system in the U.S.. I do think they should switch to metric as well though.
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Perhaps, but just as with the metric system, there's no real reason to switch.

DeaconGraves said:
My analog watch still only goes to 12. :)
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I've never seen an analog watch or clock with 24 numbers, and I don't think I'd want to. That would be too confusing, especially if you've ever gotten used to simply looking at the positions of the hands, and not the numbers to which they point, to tell the time.

garybUK said:
12hr time seems a bit childish, plus when writing it you have to denote AM or PM, proper time or 24hr time, you don't :)
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I think you're overstating a problem that really doesn't exist.

If I call a restaurant and ask for a reservation for three at 7:00, do you really think I need to say, "pm"? How about if I offer to pick someone up for lunch at 12:30? Or if the hours at the dry cleaner's are 7-5?
 
I wish people would stop suggesting solutions to problems that don't exist.
 
I grew up in the US with the 12-hr clock, then moved to Norway where it's a 24-hr clock. You adjust fast when you have to.

Here, we say (the Norwegian equivalent of) 17 o'clock (klokken sytten) when we mean 5 p.m. If we say "five o'clock", we add on "in the afternoon".

Now that I'm used to it, I prefer it. But they both work.
 
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