Comment on Military Time vs 24hr?

• Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Americans understand it just fine.

  Just like I understand what a meter is, but in real life, I would NEVER use the meter as a unit of measurement.

  Yeah, I know metric is the better system, I agree. This isn’t about that. It’s about saying something and not making the listener take a moment to convert it into how they relate to the world.

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  • UrPartnerInCrime@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Americans do not understand it just fine. I’ve had my phone on 24h time for years and the amount of fellow Americans who are completely baffled by it baffles my.

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    • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I’d say that’s probably more because they are morons and not because they are American.

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      • Volidon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I mean, can be both

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• QubaXR@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Look up the “theory of American exceptionalism”. In short there is a very strong belief here that America is one of a kind and things that may work for others simply don’t apply here.

  Explains why the US stocks a 12hr clock, messed up month/day/year mission, imperial measurement and a ton of other things that any foreigner will find anywhere from quirky to infuriating.

  IMHO the exceptionalism theory is a b.s. lazy way of keeping things conservative and unchanged and shutting down any discussion of uncomfortable progress.

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  • Blamemeta@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    “American Exceptionalism” also known as “Europeans are obsessed with America and can’t understand why American’s don’t follow their orders, meanwhile the Danes count like Barbarians and the UK hasn’t picked a system”

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    • lepthesr@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I could give a shit about following orders, it’s a lot easier dealing with international business/trade/politics.

      If everyone is on the same page, things are easier. I like the metric system. I’m a mechanic and my life is often hell because of the differences.

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    • DrQuint@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Ah yes, the two halves of the world, America and Europe.

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      • Blamemeta@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        On the english-speaking internet? Pretty much, plus the Aussies and Canadians.

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    • Turun@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      You can make a “I hate you so much” “I don’t think about you at all” meme out of it if you want, but the fact is that American media, most notably Hollywood has an immense cultural impact in the western world. People are often confronted with the weird system that Americans use, but not the other way round, let alone come across something like the danish numbering system. It’s less obsession and more unpleasant regular occurances that lead to such strong opinions about the American system.

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      • Blamemeta@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Well then make your own movies and shows then. Im not really seeing the problem.

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  • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    It’s not even imperial measurements - the US has its own customary units.

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  • ricecake@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    There was a theory I read at one point, that for the life of me I can’t remember the name of, that basically described a generalized form of exceptionalism, but for different categories.

    Basically, the “most something” countries in any particular category are going to have exceptional circumstances that make what other countries do not always apply.

    India, having the largest population, faces demographic problems that solutions that work in the Netherlands just can’t address.
    Same with Russian transportation infrastructure, and ultimately American economic issues.

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  • governorkeagan@lemdro.id ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Thank you for sharing that! I’ll have a look into it.

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• ShadowCatEXE@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  It’s standard in Canada as well. I prefer 24hr personally. There were a couple times where I’ve napped in the evening, and woke up thinking I was late for work in the morning. Not fun. 24hr clock solves that. Plus it just makes more sense to me than 12hr clocks.

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  • CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I have no strong opinion but I’ll give some reasons that people don’t often consider.

    Analog clocks are often easier to understand visually for people. A typical person will be awake for 16ish hours of the day. Which means that when looking at an analog 12 hour clock, you can easily see where you’re at in your day. That is both harder to do on an analog 24 hour clock and it also doesn’t make sense because you won’t really ever see 1/3rd of the clock get used. Military is forced to use it because the time is all digits which makes confusion less possible and displaying it easier.

    When talking about the digital version, again, it reflects how humans experience time easier. Again consider using a clock in which you will not typically see or use a third of the numbers for anything. Why do that?

    I think a lot of what bugs us about these two systems is the zero points. If I could redo it, I’d put 12am to line up and make 6am noon. Then 6pm is now evening/night.

    I suggest that because the current 12hr systems are set up to benefit capitalism. It’s meant to make you forget how long you’re working in the US. And telling people that waking up at 5am to do stuff is morning is also stupid. It’s still night time at that time and our clocks don’t reflect that at all.

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    • Scrof@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I’ve never even seen a digital clock that’s not 24h. I actually can’t see at all why it would be easier to see where you’re at in the day with the 12h AM/PM lol. Definitely an American thing.

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      • CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I mean it’s a minor difference and you get used to both systems, but like I said, by cutting the scale in half from 24 to 12 you’re magnifying the difference in time. For instance, 3 to 6pm on 12 hour clocks is 25% of the scale whereas it’s actually 12.5% of the overall day on 24hr scale. But you don’t experience the overall day, you sleep for a big chunk of it. In other words, the 12hr clock is more appropriately representing that time to you as a portion of your waking day.

        Consider this: if I told you the time in an accurate but larger quantity, how would it look to you? Like if I told you that my clock is 48 hours and resets every two days to go from 0 to 48, wouldn’t it change your perception of time? It creates dissonance that a 3 hour meeting would feel very long and yet it is such a small portion of your two day clock. That’s kind of how Americans feel about 24hr clocks.

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  • Maven@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    It’s definitely not standard in Canada. I wish it was. Every time I buy something, I have to figure out how to swap it to 24h mode.

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    • ShadowCatEXE@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Sorry, I meant 12hr is standard (agreeing with Nemo’s original comment).

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  • cecilkorik@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    It’s veeeeery not standard in Canada. I use it on my phone and most people who see it on the lockscreen treat me like I’m an alien, and it’s about a 50/50 mix of people who simply think 24 hour time is weird (but at least recognize it) vs. people who seem genuinely baffled by the digits they see appearing on my phone and don’t even seem to recognize it as a time at all.

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• raptir@lemdro.id ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I live in the US and I’ve never met someone who isn’t able to understand it. They might need to convert it in their heads to compare it with other times.

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• agent_flounder@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  You’d think 24 hour watches would be more common than they are especially among European watches.

  My kid had the hardest time reading a 12 hour clock. I think am/pm is too abstract for young kids. 24 hour makes more intuitive sense. The number resets only at the end of the day.

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• someguy3@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  We don’t use it in Canada, expect military or hospital records.

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  • Cracks_InTheWalls@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Quebec would like to have a word with you.

    Then again they also have some opinions on that whole ‘Canada’ thing too.

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• PlexSheep@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  As far as I know the Japanese use it aswell. I learned 午後 and 午前 as vocab at least. (Am and pm)

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• someguy3@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  We don’t use it in Canada, expect military or hospital records.

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• BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Adding on to that most civilians are only exposed to 24 hr time in a field that was either organizationally based off of the military such as police or emergency medicine or in fields where it’s important to have precise time keeping like hospitals

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