Unpopular Opinion: Getting dark early in Seattle is a good thing

Seattleites are long used to the routine of both heading to work and getting off work while it’s still dark out, as if we’re all living in a dystopian science fiction movie. But there may be a few people out there in the suffocating dark who actually like it.

Leave it to the fellas at a show called KIRO Nights. For co-host Drew Barth, the banishment of light enables that part of us that’s too lazy to go out and just wants to stay in.

“It’s that much easier to go get cozy sooner,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Well, it’s dark outside. I might as well not leave the house. Looks like it’s time for the slippers at 4:45 p.m.'”

There are some slight advantages he says, like Christmas lights coming on earlier, and the lack of sun making it a little easier to work.

“We could literally look out the window here and see people having a good time. But in the dark everybody looks miserable now.”

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Tuesday was the darkest day in the past two years, which is measured by the University of Washington’s Atmospheric Sciences building, as well as the number of Seattleities complaining. The dark days in December are generally due to deep clouds that prevent solar radiation from reaching the surface, and the shorter days with a low sun angle, according to meteorologist Cliff Mass.

Despite Drew’s love affair with eternal darkness, co-host Gee Scott wasn’t having it.

“I don’t like it dark. I need that daylight, I need that Vitamin D,” he said. But he did concede the earlier point about work. “I will say that it makes work easier,” which Gee said would be much more difficult if were sunny in July.

To mitigate the dreary effects of constant darkness, it’s generally recommended to get enough vitamin D, exercise outside even if it’s dark, and maybe consider light therapy. Drew loves buying a happy light.

“You feel really good about yourself when you ask for happy lights at a store. ‘Excuse me, where are the happy lights?'”