24-Hour Clock as a Standard

[whooleytoo]

I'm one of those pre-digital people who still speaks the time as 'quarter to four"... "half past two" etc (rather than 3:45 or 2:30). Sometimes I can see the person listening doing a little mental translation in their head to realise what I'm saying.

Trying to switch to 24 hour time would probably make my head explode.
- What time is it?
- It's (long calculating pause..) twenty to twenty.

 

[annk]

^ Then you mustn't move here.

For 4:40, they say "ten after half four" (unless of course they're saying "sixteen forty" ).

 

[whooleytoo]

^ Then you mustn't move here.

For 4:40, they say "ten after half four" (unless of course they're saying "sixteen forty" ).

Wow. That's obtuse even by my standards!

It's like "how can i be helpful to this person in the least helpful way possible?" or "good manners forces me to tell you the time, but I won't make it easy for you!"

 

[mrsir2009]

I can't read analogue clocks. I always and always will use digital 12 hour time. Its the easiest type of time to read in the world

 

[Aeolius]

12-hour format, for me. Without it we wouldn't have midnight. In a 24-hour format, a broken clock isn't right twice a day.

 

[nutmac]

Logically speaking, 24-hour format is superior of the two. It occupies less space written down, easier for doing time-based computation, and less prone to user error (many write 12 pm as 12 am, or vice versa).

Nevertheless, countries that use 24-hour format still rely on 12-hour format for few things: (1) analog clocks (wrist watches, wall clock) and (2) quick casual conversation (e.g., "let's meet at the bar at seven" rolls easier than "let's meet at the bar at nineteen).

 

[Huntn]

I was indoctrinated into 24 hr clock mentality in the military. That's how I now set my wrist watch and my Mac cause I prefer it..

 

[maflynn]

I wish people would stop suggesting solutions to problems that don't exist.

I'm with you, I use the 24 hour clock but to mandate it, makes no sense. The current system works fine. Why increase the burden and headaches for no reason

 

[panoz7]

I switched over to using 24 hour time after working in a lab a few years ago. It was a bit if a pain initially, but now it comes to me just as easily as 12 hour time.

The main advantage to me is that I can never accidentally set an alarm for 8 pm when I meant 8 am. I've never actually screwed that up, but it's always a fear.

 

[173080]

I use 24 hour time.

I didn't wear a watch until I found a 24h one (single revolution per day). They do exist, but they're not common.

When I'm talking to someone else I use 24 hour time.

For my own records I use 24 hour time with the percentage of the hour passed instead of minutes.

For example:
2:45 p.m. becomes 14.75.
3:15 a.m. becomes 03.25.

I've just gotten used to keeping time this way and it makes more sense to me.

 

[Stotka]

In Serbia we use 24hr but I like the 12hr clock better. Its just easier to use and nicer to look at when it says on my phone 5:00pm instead of 17:00

 

[Tomorrow]

I grew up in the US with the 12-hr clock, then moved to Norway where it's a 24-hr clock.

Do the clock faces have 24 numbers? That would completely throw me off - see below.

I can't read analogue clocks. I always and always will use digital 12 hour time. Its the easiest type of time to read in the world

I don't see the numbers when I look at an analog clock or watch, I just see the hands, and their relative positions. I don't see "nine forty-four," I just see that it's about *that* much before ten o'clock.

If the clocks had 24 numbers, I'd have to re-learn how to read a clock.

 

[steadysignal]

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?

an idle mind is a terrible thing to waste...

why must people continue to harp on tradition?

break out of the same old same old and try something new.

 

[AdrianK]

For the love of god someone make a poll

24hr BCD clocks ftw!

 

[mrsir2009]

I didn't wear a watch until I found a 24h one (single revolution per day). They do exist, but they're not common

Um, why didn't you just wear a digital watch? Easier to tell the time and you can alternate between 12 hr and 24 hr time.

 

[benhollberg]

For the love of god someone make a poll

I'll think about it.

 

[173080]

Um, why didn't you just wear a digital watch? Easier to tell the time and you can alternate between 12 hr and 24 hr time.

Digital just isn't elegant IMO. I prefer mechanical watches.

 

[GFLPraxis]

Oy. U.S. is so backwater when it comes to adopting standards. We need to switch to 24-hour clock and Metric- IMO, Metric is more critical but will be a more painful transition.

 

[Love]

In Canada, officially we use the 24-hour system but the 12 hour system prevails. For some unknown reason, I have always preferred the 24 hour system, and almost always write the date as day/month/year and not month/day/year.

 

[localoid]

24 hour clocks are so last millennium...

The Sundial is DEAD!

Decimal Time

10 metric hours in a day
100 metric minutes in a metric hour
100 metric seconds in a metric minute
10 days in a metric week (called a dekade)

 

[benhollberg]

Digital just isn't elegant IMO. I prefer mechanical watches.

There are mechanical 24-hour clock watches.

 

[samiwas]

Somehow, singing "Workin' nine to seventeen hundred" just doesn't have the same ring.

I don't mind 24-hour time, and can use it and understand it just fine. But I just prefer 12-hour for general, everyday use. But when I make filenames for drawings and such, I always use 24-hour notation for a timestamp.