BURNABY — This past week, BC switched to permanent daylight savings time. While scholars debated the merits of more daylight in the evening versus less in the morning, British Columbians who weren’t quite aware of the change were left to their own devices.
The timezone switch left millions confused as iPhone software lagged behind the change. When the clock struck 2:00 a.m., iPhones jumped forward to 3:00 a.m. as they usually would on November 1.
Jessica Launge, a graduate student in global humanities, alleged that Android users were “time thieves” who had an unfair advantage. “We lost a precious hour on our assignments because we thought the clocks were being turned back. It isn’t fair. I think I speak on behalf of all Apple device users when I say that we demand a re-do on all of our essays that were due before our morning classes.” Launge concluded by saying it was not her fault she “is too busy to stay informed on pesky issues related to clocks — objects that are on the brink of being abolished.”
The impacts were not limited to academics. On Monday morning, a day after the time change, campus security responded to reports of students marching through the AQ and threatening to overthrow SFU’s administration. Why? Because they thought their 8:30 a.m. classes had actually been moved to 7:30 a.m.
In a statement to The Peak, Apple apologized and confirmed that while a bug meant the timezone change did not automatically register on devices, it was fixed within a few minutes. The representative said they were concerned that students doom-scroll on their phones, but don’t actually check minute details like their calendar . . . or the time. Not all SFU students are accepting that apology.
“Look what happened,” third-year physics student Tyson Chang cried while showing a half-eaten Tim Hortons farmer’s wrap to our reporter. “I thought the Tim Hortons’ breakfast had ended, so I had to fish this out of the trash.” Upon further investigation, The Peak found that Chang actually had an Android device and was just painfully oblivious to his surroundings.
“This is normal with university students who average about three hours of sleep per day,” Dr. Mal-Praktis, a lecturer with SFU, told The Peak. “But never have I seen a man so desperate over a farmer’s wrap. Tyson Chang should see a doctor immediately.”
