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We would keep our calendar the same for dates/months/etc, but we would rotate the days faster.

It seems like a win - more weekends, shorter working weeks, easier to divide shift work etc for the modern 24/7 (or rather 24/6) economy.

I guess hotel owners etc would benefit, but would the average person overall be happier?

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    $\begingroup$ There would be religious opposition because of the biblical origin of 7 days in a week, and it would be interesting to see what ends up happening to the Sabbath. $\endgroup$ Mar 22, 2017 at 3:41
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    $\begingroup$ then number of holidays increases , of course productivity decreases , so pay decreases , so stress increases and so happiness decreases.. $\endgroup$
    – Amruth A
    Mar 22, 2017 at 5:07
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    $\begingroup$ Lets eliminate Monday instead. $\endgroup$
    – userLTK
    Mar 22, 2017 at 5:26
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    $\begingroup$ The year would still be approximately 365 days long for reasons of astronomy and orbital mechanics. You are merely changing how the year is divided by humans by using 6-day units instead of 7-day units. Also, please note that "what would happen ...considering... and other factors?" is awfully broad. As it stands, this feels like "gee, I just had this crazy idea, let's see what happens if I post it" rather than a well-researched, thought-through question, and is attracting close votes, likely partly for that reason. It might be better received if you narrow the focus to some specific aspect. $\endgroup$
    – user
    Mar 22, 2017 at 9:41
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    $\begingroup$ @SZCZERZOKŁY No, Lance is just adding one extra weekend per month - instead of dividing the months into weeks of seven days, they are divided into weeks of six days. Each month will still contain the same number of days and, thus, no shortening of the year. $\endgroup$
    – Mrkvička
    Mar 22, 2017 at 9:50

2 Answers 2

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Eliminate Thursday? This is a great idea! Although, there might be one or two small drawbacks.

I guess immediately, everyone's annual income is cut by about 8%.
Since Monday's and Friday's have been shown to be less productive than Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the annual production of the nation will drop by more than 8%. Let's just say 10% total.

Perhaps over time, efficiency will actually improve for reasons of mental health and happiness, as you suggest. But in the immediate time frame, there would definitely be an economic crash prior to any benefit being realized.

Sports teams suffer a rash of injuries to their star players due to physical stress caused by loss of one recovery day between matches, and, as a result, the general level of excellence in professional sports declines. Fans pine for the "good old days".

Sunday papers are now printed 15% more frequently. As a result, paper consumption skyrockets and north and south america are rapidly deforested to keep up with demand. At the same time, landfills quickly fill to capacity with discarded papers. Seeing an opportunity brought on by a lumber shortage for new home construction and the availability of waste paper, a new industry, paper mache home construction, takes off.

Every instance of scheduling software, spread sheet, or other date using application must be re-written, patched, or abandoned and replaced with new software. Airlines, trains, buses, trucks, ships all fail to run on schedule. Companies incur staggering costs to update or replace now useless software. Markets crash. Economies collapse.

15% of TV shows are immediately cancelled as their time slot has vanished. Actors, producers, show runners and writers flood into the only other profession available to them, political commentary and satire. Governments soon collapses under the onslaught of snide commentary and insightful dialog leading to global anarchy.

Enraged by the global decision to drop Thursday - Thor's Day - the Thunder Gods holy day - druids, Norwegians, and closet vikings the world over raise the hue and cry against the affront. Seeing an opportunity presented by the global economic and governmental collapse, the New Viking Union, represented primarily by Norway, Sweden, and Ice Land, sweep in a Second Norse Scourge across Europe and North America. Soon we are all eating lutefisk.

You know, come to think of it, I'm ok with Thursday.

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  • $\begingroup$ Great answer, although I'm not sure about the TV one, as shows are usually commissioned based on filling a TV year rather than a week, and there would presumably be the same number of days in a year (just more weeks), therefore the same amount of time to fill. $\endgroup$
    – delinear
    Mar 22, 2017 at 11:41
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Not much, actually

As @Jarred Allen said in the comment, unlike years or seasons, which are defined much by Astronomical & Meteorological events like changing of weather and position of celestial bodies, months and weeks are generally defined through historical precedences. Therefore, shortening the week from 7 days to 6 days, other than causing a lot of calendar calculation confusion, and make some people angry about losing their favourite day of the week, affect little else. Although you might want to consider just letting people have their Friday as a weekend day for simplicity instead.

EDIT: Actually, @The Nate's comment is right, months are dependent on the lunar cycle, but it always cause some kind of trouble trying to align it to the year: In the West, people add a number of days (not fixed, depend on historical precedences), which became the Gregorian calendar; while in the East, we add an extra lunar month every 4 years instead. Just a side piece of trivia, that's all

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  • $\begingroup$ Lunar cycles, man. $\endgroup$
    – The Nate
    Mar 22, 2017 at 7:10
  • $\begingroup$ @TheNate lunar cycles what? $\endgroup$
    – Mołot
    Mar 22, 2017 at 7:17
  • $\begingroup$ 27.3 orbital, 29.5 phase. 28 days splits the two nicely. (If you round up to 30, you could map a 6 day week to phase.) $\endgroup$
    – The Nate
    Mar 22, 2017 at 7:25
  • $\begingroup$ yeah, like Asian lunar month, which become a pain trying to align it to the Gregorian calendar for people in East and South East Asia, but true $\endgroup$ Mar 22, 2017 at 8:52

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