Love those comments of “Why does USA do ____”

Americans, “Uhhh… we don’t?”

OP “YES YOU DO I SAW IT ON TV!”

Like okay… Well according to my TV show your entire country is a slum and you harvest babies for food… but I am able to tell that is just a TV show…

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Psyk60@reddit

It sometimes goes the other way too. Non-Americans assume something they saw on American TV is made up, and then surprised when they find out it's real.

Things like brands that aren't common outside of the US. And another common one is that pretty much all American school buses are actually yellow and it's not just a TV trope.

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DaleSnittermanJr@reddit

When I moved abroad, one of the first questions about America my new friend asked me was whether Americans “really eat breakfast like that” — they thought having a big breakfast table with pancakes, bacon, eggs, etc., all served family style was a tv trope

(Also the yellow school buses!)

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Worried_Platypus93@reddit

Is it not a TV trope? I've never seen anything like that in an actual person's house. Maaybe on some kind of special occasion. It's even a trope in anime, the main character running to school that they're late for, right past this huge table of a breakfast feast, maybe grabbing one piece of toast

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Kulakai@reddit

In our house we have eggs, hash browns, toast, bacon or sausage, and coffee most days. We live in the Sierra foothills of North State California

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DaleSnittermanJr@reddit

It was normal in our house on weekends — our family had multiple kids and often had company dropping by on weekend mornings, so setting a big breakfast table was standard

School days? Definitely not. Both my parents worked so I had a piece of toast as I ran for the bus (so some truth in that trope as well)

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I dated a guy from Massachusetts and had to translate my deep south relatives (Lower Alabama, as southern as it gets) because he couldn't understand a word. Worked out because his family was from up near Boston and I could only make out half of what they said until I had been up there for a little while.

I think its also hilarious that Florida is it's own world essentially, its in the south but we don't consider it southern. People from south Florida don't sound southern despite being the lowest south you can get in the states. Your true "deep south" is Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Which I always found fascinating. It was especially interesting the divide on what is considered a southern state.

My uncles wood shed is older than your republic, it has endured more history than most of the United States sans its Native American history. It is an insignificant structure, one of hundreds of thousands across the Europe and the wider world. My local church, also insignificant, is around a thousand years old. We have a lot of history, distinct history.

Only an American would be retarded enough to think the difference between someone from two different states have an equal or larger difference in culture, language and so forth than pretty much any other two countries on earth.

A Swede would never think a Dane or Norwegian is the same as themselves. France and England has a thousand years of ‘bickering’, distinct culture and language. Yet two Americans from Florida and North Dakota are more dissimilar.

The southern European mentality and mind set is almost alien, obviously a little exaggerated, to Northern Europeans. Different enough max Weber wrote a little paper called the Protestant work ethic… and another of sociology’s pioneers Durkheim focused on the distinct differences between northern and southern European on issues such as structure, authority and individualism.

But you are so diverse you must think 50 stars is like 50 countries. Canada to the north and Mexico to the south is different; everything in between is variations of the same.

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Spirited_Ingenuity89@reddit

You’re right that people equating the differences between US states to differences between European countries are overstating those differences. But you’re overstating it in the other direction.

So different you all share the very same language, cultural references, political and social norms, laws and so forth.

Those things aren’t shared across the entire country. That’s part of what you’re missing.

England has about the same number of major dialects, but a wider range of sub variants, as the USA. At the same time there is larger differences in English dialects vis-à-vis American dialects… one would think bigger equals more…. :)

This isn’t how language change/variation works. You need time more than distance. And you need isolation from other language variants, which can be created by distance (but it can also be created by other things, like mountains). Also, that type of separation is basically unheard of in the developed world for the last century.

So it actually makes perfect sense, linguistically speaking, that England would have more dialects than the US because people have been speaking English there a lot longer and a significant amount of that time was before communication and transportation technologies lessened the isolation of those dialect regions.

Similarly the US is culturally poor and has largely adapted and amalgamated imported cultures. European ones predominantly… we developed these cultures from scratch.

This is a bunch of rubbish and not how culture works. The US isn’t culturally poor, and European cultures are just as much an amalgamation as every other culture. Since the modern borders of European countries are just that, modern, it’s ridiculous to claim that any current country “developed its culture from scratch.” Like the largest religions in Europe were founded outside Europe. Even looking as superficial cultural traditions like food, you’ll see things like Ireland=potatoes or Italy=tomatoes, but those are both New World foods.

Let’s look at England as an example. The people who we now call “English” were Germanic peoples (Angles, Jutes, and Saxons) who settled there. Then ~400 years later more Germanic people from the same original area came over again (The Danes). Instead of seeing themselves as the same people group, they saw themselves as distinct. Seems like 400 years was plenty of time to diverge culturally, which is the same length of time that the US has been settled by Europeans.

We have a lot of history, distinct history.

I don’t think anyone is denying your history, especially its length. But to say that any one country has a “distinct history” when the borders and countries of Europe have changed drastically in the thousand-year period you’re referencing is kinda wild.

A Swede would never think a Dane or Norwegian is the same as themselves.

Of course they wouldn’t now. The development of nation-states in the 1800s has seriously impacted how people view themselves with regard to citizenship. But seriously? They are all rooted in Old Norse culture, so yeah, pretty similar (not to mention actually being united for over a century). The Scandinavian countries might be the worst example exactly because of their high level of similarity. There’s arguably less distinction between them than between North Dakota and Florida (as per your example).

France and England has a thousand years of ‘bickering’, distinct culture and language.

Again, this is your example? You know that the English royal family was straight up Norman French and like the whole nobility of England spoke French for a couple hundred years, right? And that period had a distinct and irreversible effect on the English language, making it way more French? That “thousand years of bickering“ started with the Norman invasion in 1066 after which England ruled huge swaths of France and laid claim to the French throne?

Yet two Americans from Florida and North Dakota are more dissimilar.

Yes, you’re right that most people who say this are being hyperbolic (intentionally or unintentionally), but treating the US like a monolith is not accurate or helpful either. Your description of the difference between southern and northern European mindsets even has a parallel in the US actually (as well as a couple other regions, up to 11 by some metrics). So is the US more similar than all of Europe? Yes. Is it as similar as, say, the regions of France (or any European country) are? Absolutely not.

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RealSuggestion9247@reddit

Quoting on mobile is a bitch, so sorry for the lack of quotes.

With respect to your point of Scandinavian similarities. The only period of political union was during the Kalmar union ca. 1400-1500. Three distinct kingdoms went into the union two left with the Norwegian nation being colonised for the next four hundred years. All three had had distinct kingdoms since Norway in 872 and the other two followed about a hundred years later. Even during four hundred years of colonisation Norwegians kept a Norwegian identity, although obviously influenced by primarily Denmark.

We have different cultural norms and customs, different languages, separate nations, different legal framework (albeit normalised through the EU/EFTA), all developed in parallel. Oh and by the way most Swedes and Norwegians use English when talking with Danes; spoken Danish is almost divorced from its written form which is fairly comprehensible.

If this is the best case of similar circumstances I.e the worst example… Again only someone that have very little or no history, which the US lacks due to its young age but is in the process of making, would make such a claim.

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Spirited_Ingenuity89@reddit

With respect to your point of Scandinavian similarities.

So you’re going to equate the warring tribes of the 800s with modern kingdoms/countries? That’s fairly ridiculous. I could name multiple tribes (with kings) who existed within the present-day Scandinavian countries. Even through the Viking era, they shared a common identity (and language and religion) while also having various tribal factions. There certainly weren’t 3 coherent countries like today, just “North Germanic peoples.”

We have different cultural norms and customs, different languages, separate nations, different legal framework (albeit normalised through the EU/EFTA), all developed in parallel.

I’m saying that the differences you’re highlighting aren’t as great as you seem to think they are. Other than being actual separate nations, you are pretty much doing exactly what you’re accusing Americans of doing. The differences only seem major to you as an insider. From an outside perspective, they’re fairly similar (just like US states).

Oh and by the way most Swedes and Norwegians use English when talking with Danes; spoken Danish is almost divorced from its written form which is fairly comprehensible.

They are all descended from Old Norse and are largely mutually intelligible. Linguistically speaking, all dialects of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish form a dialect continuum. So no, they’re not exactly different languages.

Again only someone that have very little or no history, which the US lacks due to its young age but is in the process of making, would make such a claim.

Do you understand how ridiculous and condescending you sound to say that the US has “very little or no history”? What are you even counting as history? Are you saying history did not begin on this continent until Europeans stepped foot on it? Even if the history since European involvement is shorter, that doesn’t mean it’s missing altogether. And if you are narrowing it down just the history of the current country, then the US is older than Norway.

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RealSuggestion9247@reddit

Oh dear, I must have hit a nerve.

I explicitly stated that I did not include Native American history in my first post. For me it was an explicit point to point out your hypocrisy and the idiocy of American exceptionalism. It should also be pointed out that most times Americans themselves conveniently forgets about native Americans, it is not your proudest moment, genocide like actions, by disease, displacement, starvation and occasionally by the sword, rarely are.

I have also yet to see someone claim the argument that due to Native American influences state A is vastly different to state b which doesn’t have the same influences, and so forth. I wonder why? Is it because it invariably turns to a very uncomfortable us and them dichotomy?

When comparing a few hundreds of years with multiples of that it comparatively becomes little history; why is that such a sore point?

I wonder if you have a somewhat lacking comprehension and knowledge of the concepts of nations, and nation-states. The US has neither in the traditional ethnic sense. A point which is very important, more on this below.

Norway was united in 872 following the battle at Hafrsfjord where Harald hårfarge in effect founded a unified Norwegian kingdom. Sweden and Denmark followed about a century later. I explicitly made this point in an earlier post.

Were these modern states? No, but that is neither my argument nor the point. They were the starting points of unified ethnic identities that create nations and nation-states. With Norway the bastard jumping between Sweden and Denmark following the Kalmar treaty. While effectively being colonised for the fowling 400-500 ish years a distinct Norwegian identity endured and later flourished following 1814. To make a claim against this is patently false and also deeply flawed.

These three Nations have been distinct and separate for about a millennia. Kingdoms that have ebbed and flowed, fought and loved yet stayed apart as nations even though the borders have shifted from time to time. Are the similarities large? Yes, up to an including having closely related yet separate Scandinavian sub languages of the Northern European Germanic language branch. When your argument becomes that we have three standardised varieties of the same overarching common Scandinavian language you conveniently forgets the political nature of language, language standardisation and how it nests within the context and concept of (ethnic) nations and with a more modern perspective nation-states.

I wonder why this is so hard to grasp. I can only speculate that it comes from your own perspective is informed by a belief that someone from two states comes from ecosystems that are as dissimilar as differing nations. Which invariably leads to poor judgment when addressing old world nations and nation-states.

As to your last paragraph, as I have explicitly kept native Americans out of this, your history inevitably starts with colonialism performed by Europeans. It is also the demise of the Native American population. That is your origin story, and i guess it can be very uncomfortable when others dismiss it as young history or as not having very much history. It doesn’t make it wrong though, it is merely a perspective.

For you it is the first chapter of your history. For the principal nations that performed this endeavour it is a chapter somewhere in the middle of their history. For native Americans it could perhaps be described as the beginning of the end of their history.

Perhaps it is glib and condescending to condense colonial and post-colonial history this to very little history, but it is not untrue nor false. I guess you find it discomforting, for some reason. I come from the old world, yet I have no problem to acknowledge the rich and for that matter significantly older nations/civilisations and so forth that have existed and continue to exist. Nor for that matter other perspectives of how to evaluate history.

The fact you think narrowing down to the current political nation-state of 1905 for Norway, alternately 1814, vis-à-vis 1776 for the USA is a solid point frankly says it all. My nation developed and has evolved for a millennia, yours since some time after the European colonial project started. When did the proto idea of united colonies under a single civic state emerge, these United States? Probably closer to 1776 than to the Mayflower landing of 1620. You are a young nation state, there is nothing wrong with that. Just don’t make it into something it is not.

You are a pluralist civic nation state defined by your political ideals as opposed to the old world that largely constitute ethnic nation states such as Norway and e.g Sweden.

You ought educate yourself a smidgen on these two concepts; nations and nation-states. For anyone with any comprehension of these concepts the position Americans, an obvious generalisation, pose that the difference between two US states can be equal or greater than between nation-states is patently false and frankly an insult.

You claim that cultural and political differences between states within the same federal framework is as diverse or more diverse as actual nations that formed nation-states is laughable. Anyone with the barest understanding and that has read a thimble of political science and history would not make such a claim. It is the claim of the ignorant.

You might notice that by introducing the concept of a civic state to describe the US as a plurality with a range expressions i somehow have made a statement of plurality. If this becomes your position, dig a little deeper.

I’ll offer a parable. The United Kingdom, main island, consists of three distinct nations within a unified multinational state. The basque and Catalan nations in Spain are nested within the Spanish multinational state.

Both these multinational states are good examples of what you attempt to show as the differences between US states. I cannot think of any states that fit this yardstick; Hawaii might be an exception.

Feel free to reply, this will be my last entry. Take care

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Lucky-Bonus6867@reddit

Except cultural references, political and social norms, and “laws and so forth” are different among states. Sometimes wildly so, including things as menial as traffic law and as impactful as workers rights, healthcare rights, and voting rights, to name a few. Voting systems vary among states, which is how you get places like Maine with ranked choice voting vs Texas with party-led primaries. States employ their own educational systems and curricula, which vary wildly in both content and rigor. There are differences in the concentrations of religious affiliations among states (eg, predominantly Catholics in the Midwest, Mormons in Utah, evangelicals in the South).

Your point of language is (mostly) true, but to rest an argument upon that is to argue that all anglophones are a monolithic culture — and, to which, your argument of Canada (or, gasp, England!) being a culture separate from the US falls flat.

Geographic distance isn’t everything, to be sure, but to pretend that hundreds of millions of people can live thousands of miles from each other and be culturally identical is to dismiss the human nature to develop and engage with culture.

The US isn’t unique in this—it’s a human trait. But the US isn’t an exception to the rule, either.

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RealSuggestion9247@reddit

All your examples are within the same general framework, in their respective categories, that developed under the umbrella the United States or colonies if we look further back. But based on the same language. Then successive waves of immigration occurred, some taking longer to integrate than others.

What two US states have similar or greater cultural and linguistic differences than French speaking Canadians and English speaking Canadians?

If we disregard the authoritarian turn the US has taken these last years. Are there any states within the federation that, by US norms and laws, are not democratic? Would it be possible to have a state organised by authoritarian, totalitarian, fascist or for that matter socialist or communist means of organisation? No, two European countries (or any two countries) can have this situation. Finland is democratic, Russia is authoritarian probably a failed democracy and tilting towards totalitarianism. Even within the common European framework of the EU Hungary, from the perspective of the best democracies (Finland, Sweden, Denmark), is perhaps best seen as partially authoritarian and a failed democracy…

To make it even more bleak is there a single US state that organise in by parliamentary principles and proportional representation? In don’t think so.

That the US organised in a manner that allows for distinct expressions of local and state laws is true, but is it significant enough? You have the same language, the same currency and normalised relations (for hundreds of years) between states, defined by federal law and constitution, that allows personal mobility, protections enshrined in law, and so forth. In modern speak, and integrated customs, judicial and economic market.

Talking about how similar things are in the states. It would be easier for most Europeans to move to any US state as most Europeans speaking English (mother tongue or secondary language) than moving to a country say from the Germanic languages to the Latin or Greek languages. Or for that matter Eastern Europe or Finland.

You go on in your native tongue and communicate effortlessly with minimal code switching. The old world have to have a common language, for the most part, to effectively communicate. That is a subtle but very large difference between the US and almost any two old world countries.

Is it only ignorance that makes Americans think someone from two states, pick any two, are comparable to people from any two countries.

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Lucky-Bonus6867@reddit

If you refuse to acknowledge any of my points on the vast differences in law, education, religion, cuisine, and climate, then I will not in good faith attempt to individually acknowledge yours. I will suffice to say that cultural difference does not equate to simply egalitarianism vs. totalitarianism (there are not, after all, only two cultures in the world) nor (again) language.

I will address your last point and just ask: have you travelled within the US? Not just NYC vs. LA, but Appalachia, the Mojave, the Everglades, the Great Plains?

When you 1) have a coherence of people who have travelled the US and Europe telling you that there are real and measurable differences of culture within US states, paired with 2) the fact that, anywhere else in the world, we would acknowledge that people experiencing those differences would have unique cultures: do you not for a moment wonder if it is, in fact, you who is ignorant?

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darkbloodpotato@reddit

Having lived in both Norway and the US, I would argue Norway and Sweden are more similar than Arkansas and California. I have lived in all four places. Norway and Sweden have extremely similar languages, food, cultures, demographics and political systems. Apart from speaking the same language, Arkansas is extremely different from California, much slower pace in Arkansas, religion is much more important in Arkansas, even how people were racist was different. Culture, food, politics, opportunities all very different. Your point isn't entirely wrong, there are greater differences in Europe if you compare say Belarus and Iceland or whatever but regional differences in the US can be very stark.

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RealSuggestion9247@reddit

Only an American would think a Norwegian would think he is the same as a Swede. We are culturally and linguistically similar but distinct; and they are distinct languages. The same distinction cannot be made between a Californian and one from Arkansas; they are both Americans and that is what they call themselves…

A Californian and someone from Arkansas speak the same native language, the distinction would be one of dialect (and not terribly dissimilar ones). You have the same cultural, legal and normative framework developed over a few hundred years.

If we choose one of the rarer harder Norwegian dialects and the same from Sweden they would severely struggle to understand each other without codeswitching to their standard language (GA equivalent). Even then adjustments is necessary as the lexicon is dissimilar where words have different meanings. Is the challenge insurmountable? No, but please don’t come and say it is the same between states in the us…

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darkbloodpotato@reddit

Of course, Norwegians wouldn't think they are Swedish. They are two different countries but culturally they are very similar and most Norwegians and Swedes would admit that. And yes, there are some challenging dialects. I speak Norwegian and it's hard for me to understand some people from the North of Norway. You know who I don't have a hard time understanding. Swedes from Stockholm speaking Swedish even though I don't speak Swedish. That on its own tells you something. I'm not basing this on spending two weeks in Europe after college. I have lived multiple years in Scandinavia and am a dual citizen. Have you spent time in Arkansas or rural Louisiana? What about Wyoming? Or Northern Alaska? You may know Europe pretty well but you don't know the US that well. Speaking the same language doesn't mean the cultures are the same. Would you say people from Peru and Spain are the same because they both speak Spanish?

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AtWorkCurrently@reddit

America bad amirite

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RealSuggestion9247@reddit

No, not really. Just don’t make it into something it is not. Europe, and the rest of the old world, has thousands of years of shared history. A history of competitive and parallel development that has formed nation-states that have unique traits. The old world is distinct and different and when comparing with the US it very apparent to everyone except Americans I guess.

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ChiliAndRamen@reddit

Much of it also comes from where immigrants came from, not everyone came from Jolly old England.

One example that you gave, Florida vs North Dakota actually answers some of the issues you have. The Dakotas were massively settled by Norse and Finnish immigrants whereas Florida is by and large Spanish and Latin American immigrants. So you have not only Protestant/Nordic values vs Catholic/Spanish values also other issues such different indigenous cultures impact.

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reddock4490@reddit

Lmao

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LouisRitter@reddit

We have multiple states that are larger than every European country (Russia is geographically more Asian and they're being buttholes right now so they don't count) and there's only two that are even close to the size of Texas, Ukraine and France.

The US is geographically twice as big as every country in the EU combined. I wouldn't assume that someone in Scotland is the same as someone in Slovenia.

usnea_chord@reddit

Its especially fun to see reactions after you tell Europeans how long "road trips" can often be. Or how many days moving a few states over by car would take.

Im in Germany atm and people were asking if my family was safe during fires or ICE raids in Los Angeles. Im 13 hours north from there.

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WonderfulProtection9@reddit

“Some of us do and some of us don’t“

This reads just a little funny after the previous “we harvest babies for food” comment 😂😋

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WatermelonMachete43@reddit

WNY and NYC don't have much in common either.

My bro/girl bro/non-gender bro/alt-identifying bro, have you heard of the show called Homeland!?!?

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daveoxford@reddit

😂

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MiniatureGiant18@reddit

I do but I have to get up for work a 5:10am

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PineappleCharacter15@reddit

WTF??

I have no idea what kind of shows you're watching, but I've never seen anything like that on TV.

And we have a ton of regular people just living our lives. Different people, different values, not everyone is living at the extemes like outsiders want to believe. People looking from the outside in judging based on tv/movies/media hype without any real concept of how vast and varied this country and its incredibly diverse population is, and don't allow for nuance or the understanding that on a spectrum, most people are going to fall in the middle somewhere. We're the third most populous nation on earth, of course there's a lot of variation among 350+ million people.

No doubt whatever culture people are posting from abroad is represented here, so there will be folks here living according to the same cultural standards, while younger generations will likely moderate somewhat.

Tbh, it's really gross to characterize people the way you are, as "prudes" or especially as "hussies." It's incredibly judgemental and fairly ugly. Do people make these posts to other countries' subs? "Why is your culture the way it is? Why are you all such prudes (to, say, a South Asian country)/why do you not have any morals (hussies) (to another western country)?" It's just gross and tiresome.

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To your last point, those were the words used by a previous commentor. I was quoting what one of your compatriots said. Read their comment, then my comment, then it will make sense.

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bergesindmeinekirche@reddit

And thank God for that

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PineappleCharacter15@reddit

Most of us want to progress.

But there's this rabid christer thing going on that wants complete authoritarianism; wants everybody to be under the rule of a great invisible sky daddy, and to believe in the ridiculous fairy tales, etc. etc.

So yeah, we're pretty fucked. And we will stay fucked-up, until we get rid of the christers.

Which, unfortunately, will never happen I fear.

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zuanto@reddit

It’s not prude or hussies, I read it as we don’t sleep enough! Also, if there is any “othering” we (Americans) caused it by dominating popular culture for decades. We might be slipping from that #1 culture spot now (no comment on why), and it makes sense that the world might start to “other” us. It’s an unfamiliar feeling for most Americans, but was going to happen eventually.

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Anistappi@reddit

The US is the universal "other" for the world.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-wake-up-time-by-country

US seems earlier than many, but definitely not earliest risers

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Xylophelia@reddit

I wish I could wake up as late as 7:20am 😭 The high school in my county starts drop off at 6 am; bell rings at 6:40 and late bell at 7:00. I drop my teen off (6:30) then my middle schooler (7) then my elementary (7:30) then head to work (8). I’m up at 5:30 every day, for almost 20 years now (ex husband was military so even before kids HE had to be at work at 6)

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LaLaLandLiving@reddit

That’s wild! I’ve never heard of a public school starting so early. It certainly isn’t evidence based, because all evidence shows teens do better with later start times because their bodies are naturally staying up later and sleeping later. That sucks, sorry you have to do this!

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Reasonable-Record494@reddit

My high school started at 7:30 and certain sports or clubs met before school so people were in the building by 6:15, but yeah I've never heard of school starting at 6:40. Apparently it's largely to do with buses and sports? That's the explanation I've heard: you can't have elementary/middle/high all start at the same time because you use the same buses, and they don't want high school to be the late start even though that fits teenagers' biorhythms better because then sports practice and games would run late.

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edman007@reddit

Yea, my high school was probably the extreme. They started at 7:20am, but I lived far away, so the bus route was do the high school run 5:30-7:00 (I was the first, bus came at 5:45), then those same busses did the elementary school run which was something like 7:30-8:30, then those bussed did the pre-k run at 12-1 before going to the high schools at 2:30pm, taking them to the elementary school at 3:00pm, and then doing a combined drop off so I got home 3:45pm or so.

My county was like that when I was a student. Then, by popular demand, it switched to have elementary school start first (like 7:30am), then middle school, then high school. Two reasons:

They did a study on high school students‘ biorhythms and amount of sleep they got. One of my kids was paid a little to wear a digital bracelet for a few months. Theoretically, well-rested is better tested, and test scores are important. This reason is maybe true, but is a figleaf. They didn’t run half the schools one way for a couple years and see what happened.
I think the real reason is lots of families with all parents working wanted to eliminate before school care for younger elementary school kids. The county already had after school care at the schools. Some kids go to school from 7:00 to 6:00pm. Parents can start their commute when their kid gets on the yellow bus and get to work by 9:00am. Middle school and HS kids can get themselves up and on the bus.

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Xylophelia@reddit

Bus driver shortage got so bad they set county on staggered start so all the buses go out for high school then back out for middle then back out for elementary. Still live near a mil base, so it works with the population even though it SUCKS to wake them up for school, we used to have to do it for paid before school when they were little anyway.

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Sweet_One_2004@reddit

Wow! That’s an early start for school. I wish it was like that in America. Middle and high school starts at 730 which I think is late honestly. I’m up at 330, 4 most days. I drop my sister off at work by 6 ( she lives with us because she is disabled and can’t live on her own) and then I literally have an hour to kill before school starts. After I drop her off I’m heading to work. I love the early morning start! But with that being said, I do sleep in on weekends.

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Xylophelia@reddit

Um…I’m in America. 😅

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arcadiandreams@reddit

My classes in high school started at 7:30 AM but you had to be in school by 7 or you were late because we had a mandatory AM study hall for all students. I woke up at 5 to catch a 6:25 bus and I was in suburban New Jersey. After I graduated, I still woke up between 5 and 5:30 out of habit for about a year.

Australians are notoriously early risers.

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tnic73@reddit

waking up after the sunrise makes me feel like i missed something

My experience in scotland: school started at 8:50, so I'm sure teachers started closer to 8:30. Any office job I ever had, I'd arrive 9:30-10.

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doublemp@reddit

Any office job I ever had, I'd arrive 9:30-10.

Really? So when did you leave?

In England it's usually start time 8:30 or 9:00 (for office jobs), and finishing 17:30-18:00.

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sodsto@reddit

I'd typically leave around 8 hours after I got in, give or take depending on deadlines, and I didn't usually spend a long time at lunch.

Because of our work hours, we have insane work hours I worked seasonal for UPS and I would wake up at 2 o’clock or 3 o’clock in the morning that’s more extreme than usual but when I was working at Walmart, I’d wake up at around five or six

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StageLeather6157@reddit

American here. Short and simple answer is: capitalism.

There have been numerous studies that show Americans are roughly equally productive working 6 hours compared to our standardized 8 hours. But capitalism thrives when people are tired and exhausted. We're more likely to pay for coffee in the morning, more likely to order food, and more likely to be too tired to tend our basic needs. Resulting in spending more to indulge in convienence.

Plus, our education system (schools) are essentially "childcare". We get kids to school earlier in the morning (before 7:30am) so that we can get to work and put in our 8 hours. Kids do sports, clubs, after school care, etc. Then the kids get picked up and they're beyond hungry. So we eat dinner earlier the evening.

For high school I had to get a bus at 6 which then took over an hour to do its route before getting to school which started at 7:20 (note, I live 5 minutes from school by car, 30 min or less or I walked) shit was whack.

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momonomino@reddit

My kid has to be at school by 8 on 22nd. I'm so glad my husband took the morning shift getting her to school.

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protossaccount@reddit

Done states are requiring that school starts at 9am, do kids can sleep. I had to be at school at 745am.

My mom would get us up for various errands at 530am and we would get Dunkin’ doughnuts (90’s), it was awesome.

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Me too. I worked 2nd shift out of college and it was fine back then but when I was happy to stay up all night playing video games and wake up at lunchtime.

Now I'm older and get up early, so i can get out of work early, so I can enjoy a little extra daylight on a weekday.

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CommanderGO@reddit

Gotta walk my dog before heading to work.

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IndependentEffect202@reddit

We rise with the sun to get the most out of daylight hours.

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Responsible-Read-468@reddit

Well, yes. I WFH except for 1 day. So on that day, I wake up at 6am, get myself dressed and pretty, eat a quick breakfast like cereal, maybe a fruit and leave by 6:50 or 7, to get to work by 8. Usually there by 7:30 or 7:40. However, I prepare my lunch and outfit the night before so it’s ready to go.

Archaic puritanical nonsense combined with an absolutely ingrained toxic idea that anyone not on farmer hours is a lazy piece of shit…

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CaptainMalForever@reddit

Agricultural areas used to have a school year that went something like late October through April, then again June-August. Middle spring and fall are the two most busy times of year for farmers.

Not really, no. The whole system perpetuates itself.

There are technical reasons why some places like Spain end up with late starts and late dinners. A lot of it is due to how history just happened to roll out. Spain's whole clock is offset from most places.

Very wide time zones experience a significant differential from the east to the west side.

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LaLaLandLiving@reddit

It varies a tiny bit, but not really by state, more by industry and school district. You have to understand that MANY of us in California, especially the LA area have very long commutes, things Europeans would never have to do, so we have to get up earlier. Right now, we wake up at 6:15 because my son starts school at 7:30 and we’ve got to contend with some of the worst traffic in the world.

I’d also point out that your vision of California is really skewed, either by Hollywood or tourist goggles. SOME people are more relaxed here and party more, but those are usually transplants, tourists, or people in the industry. For the rest of us millions that live here, we’re working non stop because it’s expensive af here and we don’t have time to be chill or party any more than any other working person with a real job and responsibilities. Lastly, we only have a Mediterranean climate in parts of SoCal, the rest of California has many different climates (including parts of SoCal).

notacanuckskibum@reddit

But again the question for the office jobs is why? In the UK it's mostly 9 AM, in Spain it's later. I've tried to teach a training course in Spain on a 9 - 5 schedule, it failed miserably. Being at the office by 9 just isn't their routine.

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MissMallory25@reddit

So much of our international business means Europe is already online when we get up, so to make sure our hours even remotely line up and we are Able to communicate, we must get online early ourselves. We in the Pacific coast have the double whammy that we can juuuuust catch Europe before it goes offline if we are early enough - and by the time we get in, our colleagues on the East coast have already been working for 3-4 hours. So it’s meetings at the crack of dawn for us, and everyone is done for the day by the time it’s early afternoon.

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eugenesbluegenes@reddit

Needing to coordinate with Europeans is a very niche reason to be up early. And even when I worked in a west coast office of a DC based company (where my direct supervisor was located) I was never expected to be online extra early.

That being said, I do happen to be an early riser. I think that came more from doing lots of field based jobs right out of college (geologist), where a 7 (or earlier in the summer) start time was standard.

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bearsnchairs@reddit

Europe is not a monolith and you’re not even European…

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Outrageous-Pin-4664@reddit

I blame Benjamin Franklin.

"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man wealthy, healthy, and wise."

Seriously, a lot of jobs need daylight hours. My dad did drywall construction, and he would get up at 5-5:30 so he could be on the job at 7am. He wanted to have his tools unloaded and be ready to start work by 7:30.

He had grown up on a farm where they typically got up around the same time, so they could do morning chores like feeding the livestock and milking the cow before breakfast. They wanted to be in the fields ready to work when the sun came up. Back when he was born, nearly a fourth of the population lived on farms.

There are jobs that start later in the day. Working "9 to 5" is standard for a lot of people. Given commute times, they probably have to get up before 7 to shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and make it to work on time, especially if they have to drop kids off at school on the way.

My wife's work starts at 8. She gets up at 5am, because she likes to have some quiet time before she has to start running around getting ready. She leaves around 7am to get to work at 7:30, so she can get stuff done before people come in and start asking her questions.

wosmo@reddit

Spain's an odd one because their timezone is broken. They're using central european time, despite being .. not very central.

Solar noon in Madrid is about 2pm. So when it's 8am on the clock, it's 6am in the sky.

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boozincruizin@reddit

Well im canadian, i wake up 5am for work mon-fri, so my body is used to it. I wake up early on weekends, mainly for a couple reasons, i like go out in the afternoons, happy hour at my bar is from noon til 4, 5 bucks a pint or 10 at normal price... the only way id stay up late is if theres some bands to go see, other than that who cares

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Chicago_Avocado@reddit

I don’t do it by choice. There is a commute to work that starts at 8

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splubby_apricorn@reddit

I am American and work at a hospital. I have to be up by 4:30am most days.

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StarsandMaple@reddit

No, but I was also in the country side for most of it, not Paris so it wasn't as normal for them.

We did notice it was much more packed and lively around 830-9 when we did do a late dinner

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Carlpanzram1916@reddit

What confuses me about this is having children. Do European babies somehow not wake up with the sun?

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Standard_Plant_8709@reddit

In the nordics the sun rises around 3 am during the summer. No one would have babies if they just woke up with the sun :D

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Mama_Co@reddit

Babies are really adaptable. My husband is from France. We were there over Christmas. My 6 month old and 2.5 year old adjusted to their schedules immediately. We ate dinner at 7:00-7:30 pm and the kids went to bed around 9:30 and woke up at 9:00-9:30.

PM_ME_ANYTHING_DAMN@reddit

Yeah super late dinners are a recipe for a midnight blowout lol

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Doctor_Lodewel@reddit

Damn! I'm a doctor and I wake up at 7, and that is only because I have to bring my kids to school too.

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SeaPeanut7_@reddit

You are jet lagged though so basically resetting your clock… being hungry at 5pm in greece is maybe breakfast time in the US so maybe that’s why

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splubby_apricorn@reddit

I wasn’t jet lagged by the time I got to Greece though (it was a multi country trip). I mostly stayed on my US schedule once I acclimated to European time. I was up before the sun and was ready for bed - not dinner - at 10.

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GigiLaRousse@reddit

I don't know. Visiting my in-laws in Portugal it seemed everyone around us was up, fed, dressed, and ready to leave for work or whatever by 7am. I felt like a total slacker.

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fakeuserisreal@reddit

Idk that we are, but people who get up early often like to talk about it because getting up early is a kind way to say "look how hard I work."

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crinnaursa@reddit

For me personally it's partly because of weather. Of course My perspective is certainly informed by where I live, the Southwest. Here in all seasons you get up early because it's the only usable time of the day.

The other reason is that American culture is for better or worse permeated with a historically Protestant work ethic. It's a social belief that hard work thrift and productivity are moral imperatives. Examples of this can be seen in the moral outrage of mothers whose children sleep in on the weekend even though they have no demands on them.

The idea of not constantly being at work still sends some of the more traditional Americans into an absolute tizzy. It's partially responsible for the repeated moral panics we have over leisure activities. Historically dance, card games, comic books, pinball machines, then skateboarding and video games now TikTok.

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Embarrassed-Cause250@reddit

OP what time does the work day begin in the countries you are mentioning? In the US, many people work and base the time they awake with the hour they need to be at work. Schools usually begin between 7 and 9 am and are out between 2:30 to 4:30 (at least in the states where I have lived, I am sure some states have different times to start and finish). Most people will need to be at work between 7am and 10 am - while a lesser amount seem to have later shifts. I think that wake up time is dictated here in the US, sadly we have to work.

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Tr33Bl00d@reddit

I hate it. I am a night owl

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Because there ain’t no rest for the wicked, money don’t grow on trees…

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panic_bread@reddit

I don’t know anyone under the age of 60 who wakes up that early unless they have to for a job.

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Gorewuzhere@reddit

4:30 am and because of my work schedule.

In the us things run 24/7 there's just as many grave yard people (sleep during the day)

You just hear about the early risers I guess idk.

I used to work 11pm-7am and I'd sleep from like 8am-4pm

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AdministrationTop772@reddit

Americans aren't particularly extreme early risers:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-wake-up-time-by-country

Before retiring I worked from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The drive there took about an hour in normal traffic, longer if it was raining or there was an accident. It took me about an hour to get ready so I had to be up by 6:00. A toddler grandchild lived with me for a while. Getting him up and ready and to daycare added another hour before work so I had to get up at 5:00. Mothers with kids at home might need a lot more time to get them up, fed, make lunches and drive them somewhere before driving themselves to work.

Now that I’m retired, I get up around 9:00.

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Existing-Secret7703@reddit

Most other countries have good public transport. For the most part, the USA doesn't, so the roads get very congested during rush hour. That's why a lot of people go into work very early.

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babarsac@reddit

Our six year old has decided that 530am is the perfect to start singing and dancing in her room. At that point I just get up an make coffee.

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For me, my jobs always started around 7-8am. In order to get ready and commute, 5-6am is when I had to get up.

By choice, I do not wake up that early, I just like being able to keep my jobs.

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Grouchy-Ability-9223@reddit

I feel super lazy if I’m not going by 6 and enjoy all the extra time. sleeping is what you do when you’re dead

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snuffleupagus7@reddit

We get our extra time at night. Why is it lazy to sleep from 1am-9am, but not lazy to sleep from 9pm-5am?

More time would be nice.

Hard to sleep now with the toddler and work and all. But I’m looking for a new job so hopefully I can sleep later eventually.

Weary_Anybody3643@reddit

Because our work and school start stupid early. Freshman year my high school started at 7:00 buy sophomore year they did actually push the start date back closer to 8:00 because if any bus was late for elementary school our high schoolers would be late so they decided to actually just give us more of a breathing room but when you spend the first 16 to 18 years of your life having to be up at school at 7:00 a.m. you kind of get used to getting up early I'm the opposite I'm a night owl I work second shift so I usually don't go to bed till 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and get up at noon but most Americans are used to their high school school schedules

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Just_curious4567@reddit

It’s only the Americans that have a job, or school, or kids. If you don’t have any of those things, then sure you can wake up at 10 am.

There is a huge variety of timing for this, and it mostly has to do with jobs, school, or personal situation. I actually fall into this category of getting up at 5am on weekdays.

I live on the west coast of the US and work for a global company headquartered in India working for a client in New York State.

I have to start my workday at 6am if I want to talk to my team in India or my client in their morning. 6am my time is 9am Eastern US, 2pm in the UK, and 6:30pm in India. My meetings often start at 6am and got until 10am, then I get offline work done after that…

One thing that is hard for most Europeans to understand is how the continental US is so wide, it spans four time zones, more if you consider Alaska and Hawaii.

For me to drive to my lead client’s office, it’s like driving from Paris to Moscow, and I’m still in the US, never leaving the country, and I’m still not to the Atlantic Ocean yet. This is why the culture around time to wake up is not uniform or even culturally mandated.

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Difficult-Map-794@reddit

Because our entire social construct is not set up for anything good.

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Frosty_Ninja3286@reddit

I am up at around 4am most mornings. But it has to do with my dogs and one of them on multiple medications.

We have since lost that dog, but the other is used to the schedule so I keep it.

I always made fun of my grandfather for waking up early, then my father did the same.

Now I do it and I like the quiet time, time to catch up on things, and I also hit the gym a little after 5 am.

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cluttered-thoughts3@reddit

Ok-Thing-2222@reddit

I love early morning, so 5:15am is my consistent wake up time for many many years. Hot coffee, the sun comes up, the birds call....

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perfectcosimagifs@reddit

Tbh I'm an American who hates morning, is not an early bird, will sleep until noon, etc.

But I kinda respect how morning people experience more daylight.

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I’m up at 4:00 but that’s partly due to a long-ish commute (45 minutes) and because I do the gym before work. But being up early just got set in stone in my teens when most kids want to sleep in. My hometown does not have a high school so (at the time anyhow), a bus picked me up around 5:45, did the run through town, stopped at one school before reaching mine.

My office is semi-flexible with hours, it’s officially open from 7:30-6:00 and you just need to make 8 somewhere in that but I still prefer the early morning as not many of my colleagues are in at that time and I can get a ton done in that first 60-90 minutes.

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Far_Anything_7458@reddit

American here---I have always been an early riser but many of my friends are not. Work and school usually start around 7-9 a.m., depending on the setting, so getting up early is a must.

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Odd-End-1405@reddit

A lot of us start work at 07:00 or earlier. You also have to work in commutes, which in many cities can be an hour or more.

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LongBeachHXC@reddit

I do it for peacefulness.

MoonFlowerDaisy@reddit

I work from home too, but I get up at 4.30am with my husband, works as a tradie, starts at 6am, so I will do all my housework, prep dinner, make lunches, do my yoga etc, wake my kids at 6.45, get them ready, walk them to school, then start my work day at 9am. I am usually asleep by 10pm though. A sleep in for me on the weekend is 6.30am.

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tabrazin84@reddit

Even in my party days when I would stay out til the bars closed, I have never slept til 2:30p. I think the latest I have ever slept is 11:30a. 😅

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HugeTinyMistake@reddit

oh wow! back in those days I would often wake up between 4-6pm. I took night classes and worked night shifts though, so it didn't affect my schedule

it's not easy being a night owl now; nothing's 24/7 since covid 😭

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gsxr@reddit

Yours wouldn’t fit my lifestyle. It work during the day, Farm work after. I need more daylight.

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danny_ish@reddit

During the work week, im up at 4:30am. Work until 7pm between an office job, outside workouts, and housework. On saturdays I still sleep in until 10am and 2 pm, sunday im back to like 5-6am

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highpsitsi@reddit

Same, my alarm is set for 430a and I woke up at 4. My fiance works from home, so those are my personal hours during the week that I look forward to.

-RedRocket-@reddit

The famous "Protestant (or Puritan) Work-Ethic", as summarized by Benjamim Frankling in his famous rhyme:

Early to bed
And early to rise
Makes a man healthy
And weatlthy and wise.

We also used to be a lot more rural and agricultural, anf a lot of farm work needs to be done outdoors, and most easily by daylight - so if the sun is up, the work day has already begun.

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Chance-Ask7675@reddit

There is nothing to do here at 6am like there is in North America (Im from Canada). The pool, gym, exercise classes, and coffee shops are open at 6am in Canada, in France stuff opens at 9am lol so whats the point of getting up early.

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Particular-Move-3860@reddit

If you are getting posts from us when it's 5 a.m. in the eastern US, it isn't because we got up so early or are suffering from sleep disorders. It's because ~~those people~~ we are true "night owls" who haven't gone to bed yet. 5 a.m. is "late evening" for us. The USA has a very large population. In a country like ours, even oddball eccentrics like us are still awake and active in large numbers deep into the early morning hours of the next day.

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EmptyBodybuilder7376@reddit

I think you meant Southern Europeans.

In the North, most people are up much earlier.

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satisfymysoul89@reddit

It’s the capitalism in us 😔😔 and the lack of good public transport. We all leave to rise early to fight traffic to get to work on time

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butterpea@reddit

I have to wake up early because my European colleagues won’t accommodate my working hours. It’s the price I pay that my colleagues take advantage of my countries piss poor worker protections.

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Zama202@reddit

Mostly because the mid-day meal isn’t a big deal in the US, coupled with higher female labor force participation (except Scandinavian nations).

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xx-rapunzel-xx@reddit

capitalism, hustle culture, people trying to have some time to themselves before work and perhaps before kids awake…

if you work on a farm or in construction, those people wake up 3-4 in the morning.

i think it’s the structure of 8-hour day though. 8 hours work, 8 hours “play”, 8 hours rest. for some it could be 12 hours on/off.

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BoldBoimlerIsMyHero@reddit

Many of us commute. To get to work by 8, I have to leave at 6:30am.

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God, this has been the hardest thing for me since I've moved to Southern Europe. Still wake up super early but I have not been able to permanently adjust my dinner time no matter what I do.

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StrawberryKiss2559@reddit

I think it’s forced upon all of us. I’m a night owl and my normal waking hours are around 1pm-5am. That’s how I’m best functional.

Outrageous_Report_31@reddit

I get up at 4am bc I have to work at 6am and I like to get there early lol. But on the weekends I’ve been known to sleep all day.

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Ok-commuter-4400@reddit

Spain in particular is messed up because Franco changed the time zone in 1940 to alight with Nazi Germany and they never changed it back.

Geographically, Spain is so far west that it should be on British time (as should a lot of France) and the Canaries a time zone later than that.

Every time you hear a Spaniard bragging that they eat dinner at 10pm, remind them that this is because of fascism

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GreenBeanTM@reddit

As many other people have said, we usually don’t have a choice as that’s when our schools/jobs start. My high school started at 8 so it wasn’t uncommon for girls to be waking up at 6 so they had time to get ready + travel to school.

As for the reason this started, while I can’t say for sure because I’m not a historian it wouldn’t surprise me if it goes back to colonial times. When you’re building a town completely from scratch you want to be working for as long as you have daylight available + the puritans idea “idle hands are the devils plaything”.

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Mushrooming247@reddit

Oh wow, my household wakes up at 5:30 AM because my son‘s bus picks him up for high school at 6:40 AM.

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rdubmu@reddit

I wake up between 430-5am without an alarm. I am the most productive between 5-8am.

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kurai-tsuki@reddit

It varies by school district but some places school starts at 7-730am, so kids and parents have to be up to get the kids to school before going to work

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kurai-tsuki@reddit

A lot of people have really, really long commutes (like 60-90 minutes one way). Almost everyone commutes by driving. Some decided they'll get up early to try to avoid the worst of the traffic.

When I lived in the SF area about ten years ago, commute hours were basically 5:30-10am and then 3-7pm every day, there were that many people trying to spare themselves the brunt of the traffic.

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DizzyFly9339@reddit

Two main reasons:

Our economy was largely agricultural for a long, long time, so “business hours” were largely modeled after agricultural working hours.
Late stage capitalism dystopia has a lot of people convinced that their worth as a person is dependent on their productivity, and so sleeping late is considered a moral failing by many.

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21schmoe@reddit

u/Ada-Mae

In Western Europe people are known for being the early risers 7-8 am being common for students and workers, meanwhile the South and East wake up later. And when I mean late, it's MUCH more different in Southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece) 8-10 am is the average and they eat lunch and dinner very late 1-3 pm and 8-10 pm.

No, people in Southern Europe don't get up at 10 AM. lol. Go to r/AskEurope and say this, and you'll be laughed at.

I got drunk last night and woke up at 5:30am.

It kinda does...

Ask any regular American to name some facets of Italian culture. Now ask any regular American not from Mississippi to do the same for that state.

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Traditional-Job-411@reddit

Woosh, it’s not, you are going in a circle. Back to the “America has no culture” than you trying to saying Mississippi doesn’t have culture followed by you saying it does actually have culture but people not acknowledging it due to racism.

He then went on to prove the psychology of it. Everything we do is measured against financial achievement.

I mean I'm glad that worked for you but personally I've almost never managed to be productive in mornings, at least not consistently. Whenever I tried I ended up burned out, tired, and less productive than when I followed my natural instincts.

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Myfourcats1@reddit

I work in the meat industry. Large slaughter facilities usually work shift work: 5:30 AM to 2PM, 2PM- 10:30 PM or until all animals are killed, and another closing shift that leaves around 4AM. The cleaning crew begins around the 10:30 point. I assure you that your country also has shift work.

Cornwallis400@reddit

A big part of it is the USA’s origins as a farming colony for Britain.

Farmers wake up early, and most early Americans were farmers. That schedule has persisted.

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BigBearOnCampus@reddit

I work at 7am so I’m up at 4:45am

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bomber991@reddit

I mean when I go to Europe and get coffee, I’m usually served a single shot of espresso, not even a double. In the US we drink giant cups of coffee.

Yes, espresso has more caffeine per ounce, but 16 ounces of coffee has more caffeine than 1 or 2 ounces of espresso. Idk how many milliliters that is and idgaf either 😎

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davideogameman@reddit

FYI Spain is not a good comparison - Spain runs in UTC+1 when geographically they should be on UTC.

As far as Americans being early birds, this is not universally true. Regionally, I think states in US central time may bias a bit earlier, and there are definitely social reasons (early school start times, many jobs start by 8am) and some geographical - at one point I knew some people doing sales for my West Coast based company that said they'd wake up around 7am and start making sales calls before getting out of bed, as we didn't have a separate east coast sales office at the time - the time difference meant that they couldn't usefully do sales calls after 2-3pm PT.

I am not sure about anyone else, but America is about productivity and you always need to do better. It sucks! It works you to the bone if you are so inclined.

Plus it is practically illegal to be disabled or even ill.

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ExultantGitana@reddit

Right!? I'm not but, I getcha! I wish I were though.

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viajealmundo@reddit

It drives me crazy because I run on that exact same schedule… wake 8-10am, eat lunch 1-3pm, and dinner 8-10pm. I’m 100% the anomaly in my circles and it drives me crazy.

People literally eat lunch at 4-5pm here and I couldn’t even if I had to.

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TrillyMike@reddit

Early bird gon get that worm

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Narrow-Durian4837@reddit

I'm only speculating here, but for much of America's history, many people worked outdoors (such as on farms), and they needed to take maximum advantage of daylight, so it didn't make sense to sleep much past sunrise.

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Frosthoof@reddit

For me, I want to get work over with early. let me endure the suffering while I am half asleep so I can leave before the evening.

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143019@reddit

When I used to work first shift, I started the work day at 7 am. That meant, at minimum, I had to be up at 5:30, considering the commute.

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Smokinsumsweet@reddit

By 6am I'm already working.

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Churlish_Performer@reddit

I get up at about 0520 for work but I certainly sleep in on my days off. I do both - the thing about is, you don't much have a choice. You either get up early for your job that starts early, or you will get fired. I'm more of a night owl but working full out night shift is really really bad for your health so I choose not to.

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rantmb331@reddit

I blame Ben Franklin and his stupid book.

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mostlygray@reddit

I'm usually up with my wife at about 3:30AM. Then I try to get a nap in. I wake my kid for school at 5AM because she likes to get up early for school. She has to be on the bus at 7:30AM.

I've been setting my alarm for 3:30AM since I was a little kid. It gave me time to do some reading and get ready to deliver papers before school. If the sun is up, on the weekends, I'm up. I do try to keep in bed until 7AM if I can. I'm usually up sooner. That's weekends though.

It's America. We like to get our day done early and go to bed early. My preferred time for dinner is 5PM. Then in bed before 9PM. I want my work day over by 4PM if I can do it.

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BalaTijuana@reddit

I just read an article that briefly touched on this. Some countries may be in the wrong time zone, and the sun rises and sets much later there compared to their shared zone counterparts. Time is relative, anyway.

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BigScoops96@reddit

I woke up at 3:30 AM this morning for a 5 AM start. Granted I’m done by 1 PM and I have the whole day, 3:30 is still soul crushing

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WhichWitch9402@reddit

In rural/farming areas, the farmers and workers are up early to maximize daylight.

I know a lot of people in my area (city surrounded by farm land) even if not involved in farm stuff go in early to 1) be able to work with other in our company on Eastern time and 2) maximize afternoon for outdoor activities. When the weather is nice here people want to be outside - organized sports, hiking, boating, etc. Since we don't have great time off policies like European countries, you fit that stuff in after work or weekends.

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nightglitter89x@reddit

No choice. Gotta wake up and get my daughter to school. If I want to make that happen, 6AM it is.

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SysError404@reddit

I think this mostly stems from America's roots in agriculture. Farmers are often up very early and go to sleep late, especially outside of the winter. This carried over into our school schedules and work times. Many Intermediate and High schools start classes at 7ish AM out by around 3pm. Why? Because by the time you are old enough to be in those grades you where generally old enough to be helping work your families land. Same reason why American schools still have Summer Break.

All that carried over into the work force outside of agriculture. Businesses open between 6-9am. Employees need to be in before you open for customers to get everything inline for the day.

Longjumping-Eye-4257@reddit

There is a historical reason for the push to work 8-5, 5-6 days a week and many times only get a small vacation and even then, only after a year, while other countries have far more relaxed hours and more vacation time ( you know who you are).

It’s called the Puritan work ethic and it essentially came over with the English passengers who arrived on the Mayflower, damn them. Puritans believed that idle hands were the devil’s hands, so one had to be constantly employed in something worthwhile and essentially that meant work until you drop from exhaustion, go to bed, get up early and do it again. Even now, we are a far, far cry from Puritanism in this day and age, but the damage was already done.

You can also thank the Puritans for “cleanliness is next to godliness” ( if you were constantly cleaning, apparently you couldn’t get in trouble).

US culture has a problem with obsession around productivity and one-ups-manship where people brag about how early they get up.

PinCurrent@reddit

Gotta wake up early to hit the second job to pay for health insurance.

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Key_Mortgage_4339@reddit

My girlfriends dad goes to work at 3am

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I_Am_Zeelian@reddit

They live to work, while the rest of us work to live.

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GetInTheHole@reddit

When I worked an early morning news program in college I had to be up way earlier than 6am.

ilovjedi@reddit

The US industrialized later than Europe? Or switched over to a majority of population in the cities later. On the farm you’ve got to wake up early to tend to the animals? IDK. Maybe Calvinism (like the Puritans not the comic strip)?

tychii93@reddit

I don't even have to be at work until 10am but I still set my alarm for 6am. There's nothing I hate more than waking up JUST to go to work. I'm too tired after getting home to want to bother with anything other than eating dinner and going to bed.

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anarchy45@reddit

Why so early in the USA? There is work work work to be done! Money to be made. Money money money. Money is our life-blood, it gives us purpose, it gives us meaning, it buys us huge cars and even huger homes and affords the taxes with which we bomb foreign countries. Money money money! Time is money!

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anarchy45@reddit

I love how Pope Francis had phrased it a few years back - we are "rich in wealth and poor in spirit"

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No-Refrigerator-4951@reddit

I agree with others on leftover Protestant work ethic being a factor.

Most (first shift) jobs start between 7 am and 9 am. Most Americans I know of have a commute of at least 30 minutes. Most people I know have a lot longer commute than 30 minutes. Schools tend to start between 7 am and 9 am (colleges might be later).

I tend to wake up at 5:30 AM. My SO starts work at 7 am. I wake up with him, go to the gym, then go to work. We technically start at 9 am, but I get to work around 8:15 to have coffee and breakfast with my coworkers.

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Sea-Ad9057@reddit

i live in the netherlands is confusing to american tourists especially the older ones that at 8am there is only a hand full of cafes and the supermarkets open in the hotels the hotel restaurant is busy between 17-18;30

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thetoerubber@reddit

I’m from the US and I also lived several years in Europe, and it’s true, Americans tend to be early birds and I hate it because I’m a night owl lol. This doesn’t mean there’s nothing going on at night, but the schedule is definitely later in Europe. Americans go to the gym or jog at 5 or 6am, get to the office by 7 “so they can leave early”, have their dinner at 5 or 6pm … I’m in the minority eating dinner at 9 or 10pm (“oh my god that’s so bad for you to eat that late!”)

Europeans set their clocks later relative to the sun. Most of Europe is in the wrong time zones.

The UK, France, and Spain should be on London time. Germany, Italy, Poland, and Sweden should be +1 hour. Etc.

Instead Poland to Spain is on Poland time and Portugal is on London time.

The clocks in Spain are almost 2 hrs behind solar time.

Look at a time zone map. The time zones should be vertical strips. Instead Europe is a bunch of horizontal spread. (The US is generally good at time zones except for Alaska is fucked up from all being in one time zone.)

My closest big city is Chicago. In winter in Chicago solar noon ranges from 11:34 am to 12:04 pm, and in the summer ranges from 1:04 pm to 12:34 pm. In Madrid it's 12:58-1:28 pm in winter and 2:19-1:58 PM in summer. (This is the site where I see this.)

It looks like Chicago's solar noon about matches Warsaw's, yet Madrid sets its clocks the same as Warsaw.

Warsaw is 21 deg E and Madrid is 3.7 deg W, so about 24 deg of difference. This is as far apart as NYC and the middle of Kansas/west of Dallas.

At the other end, we glorify being busy and being tired. That to be overworked is a sign of one's value. So no sleep is glorified more than well rested. One should go to bed early, but I just have so much to do that I can't is very acceptable. I worked to late and get up late is considered lazy.

People expect admiration for being part of a society that treats their welfare like shit. American businesses push it, and American people buy into it.

There may be small regional differences. People in California seem to do things last. For my job, I used to have to get up at 5:30 am. I worked 1 hour away by car, with little traffic (reverse rush hour).

I work in the service industry. Its inappropriate (unless specified with the customer) to show up to their house before 8am. A standard 8hrs of work starting at 8am, will clock me out at 4:30pm. Due to this, my supplyhouses open at 6:30-7am. If i want to be first in line, and not wait behind 100 other customers, i need to be at my shop by 6am to get assigned my job. If i want to be at my shop by 6am, i need to leave home by 5:30am. In order to get out of the house by 5:30, i wake up at 4:30-5am.

If i am late to the supply house, it can take up to an hour to get my parts getting caught in the morning rush. If im leaving the supply house at 8am, i get stuck in freeway traffic, and now im not showing up to the customers house until 9-10am, and THEN starting my 8hrs of work, and i dont get to gp home until 6-7pm.

I wake up early, so i can finish early, so i can enjoy most of the day still rather than committing to a work, eat, sleep schedule on mon-fri. Im not going to speak for all Americans, because this country is way fucking bigger than you think it is. but most of the ones i know and interact with are on this sleep schedule.

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CornyOne@reddit

I definitely should have been born in Europe...

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Carolina_Hurricane@reddit

I’ll never forget sitting down for dinner upon arrival at 7pm in Genoa my first time visiting Italy. I was the only table there. 10pm the same night restaurants were packed solid with some/most tables halfway through their meal.

Ok-Possibility-9826@reddit

I mean, I just have a lot to do and need as many hours in my day as possible that I can allocate. Waking up early helps with that.

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I’m in the mountain time zone.

My 9am is 11am on the east coast. So I start my work day at 7am to be able to meet with east coast staff when it’s 9am there.

So that means I tend to get up at 5am.

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Carlpanzram1916@reddit

This feels like it was written by someone who has never had kids and thinks everyone sleeps in as late as he does.

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Flimsy_Equal8841@reddit

We were once comprised of mostly farms. Farmers work from sun up to sunset every day of the week. Today's farm equipment allows the farmer to work after dark but that's relatively new.

because of fucking 8am standup meetings

Available-Egg-2380@reddit

My high school had first period start at 6:45. It was so brutal. It was also the only period they offered Latin classes. I don't think I learned a single thing in that class for my junior year lol

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Tankieforever@reddit

With the exception of my time working in restaurants, All of my jobs have either been 7-3/3:30, or 6-2/2:30.

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beardguy@reddit

For me, personally, I work for a company based two time zones away. I don’t have to get up and start as early as I do but it’s very nice being done for the day at 3pm and having most of the afternoon time to myself.

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Own_Reference2872@reddit

I’m a teacher and I have to be at work by 7:30. It takes me an hour to drive there. 😔 When I was in charge of one of the sports teams I had to be there by 5:15 for practice.

Then we moved to cities and the bosses wanted 12 or 14 hours of labor for the meager wages.

While the manual labor has eased back somewhat, some folks like getting half their day done before noon.

Where I live, we have ‘summer hours’ - get up and get out to get done before the hottest time of day (3-4pm is 115-120 degrees F.)

I like it when my day is done and there are still hours of daylight to enjoy.

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lightgreenspirits@reddit

I wake up at like 3:30am for work at 5am and I often ask myself this same question. “Why am I up so early”

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Fun-Yellow-6576@reddit

I had a job where I worked 5am- 2pm because we had to be open when east coast customers would call.

My daughter’s high school started at 7:05 am.

We get up early, eat meals early, and go to bed early because that’s just how life is here.

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Kielbasa_Nunchucka@reddit

I start work at 6, it takes me 30min to get there, and I like to 15min early to decompress before I start. I get up at 4:30 cuz that gives me time to shower, get dressed, eat something, and crap before I leave.

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Prize_Consequence568@reddit

Jobs.

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linkxrust@reddit

You guys are crazy. lol. People wake up at different times. There is no set time to wake and go to bed. Thats fuckin weird.

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GotMeAMuleToRide@reddit

I wake up at 4, without an alarm, regardless of what time I go to bed. This has become more fixed as I've gotten older.

I love being up in the early hours before anytime else in the household. My favorite time of day.

We were originally an agrarian society. I’d reckon that just kind of stuck

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deadbeef56@reddit

I think people in the Central Timezone tend to be earlier risers than in other timezones. This is reflected in the fact that TV shows start an hour earlier (by the clock) than they do in the east or west coasts. Whether this is the cause or the effect of centralians being earler risers, I'm not sure.

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Australians are up even earlier. Many wake up at 5-6 am before the sun is even up lol

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Parking-Poetry-1066@reddit

I aim to arrive at work by 8 at the latest but more preferably between 7 and 7:30. People I work with just start early; I'm one of the later ones. My boss is usually at the office around 6. I try to go to the gym before work because the chances of motivating myself to do vigorous exercise after work are pretty low. So that means I need to get up early.

It's nice to still have some daylight left after work and not ONLY in the summer.

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Actually for Americans in general there is no set rise time. It depends on when you go to work, how far you have to drive, etc. I knew of a sort of hotel here whose kitchen hours were 4-9. Respectively AM and PM. That was because the field they were in started work at about 6 am. Or they got off about 6am. They also had about an hour drive to work or longer.

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PPKA2757@reddit

People have to get up for work, kids have to go to school.

Most Americans work some semblance of a 8-5 work day. Most schools start between 7-8 am.

Most Americans have to commute at least some amount of time to their jobs.

So if you have kids, or your commute is 15+ minutes, you’re getting up between 6-7 am M-F. Do that enough and “sleeping in” on the weekends turns into 7-8am wake up.

Part of it is the driving culture. It’s hard to be spontaneous when you need to be alert enough to drive home. Staying out late can lead to being pretty tired, too tired to drive a car home.

I naturally dont sleep much. Sometimes I have up at 4:30 and my body is done sleeping.

On an average day, I need to be up at 7:15 to be sure my middle schooler does not miss the bus "accidentally."

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cwcam86@reddit

I've gotta get up at 445 to 5 so that I can get to the gym or go run and have time to make breakfast before work. If I don't workout before work I almost never do it when I get home.

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LivingTheBoringLife@reddit

I have to be at work at 8. I leave the house 2 hours before work because of traffic. Then I still need time to get ready and wake up.

So yeah. That’s why I get up early.

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Physical-Incident553@reddit

I work 8-5 and have an hour commute. So that gives you an idea of what time I’m up

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SplitOpenAndMelt420@reddit

I work from home.

I wake up at 10am

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