Is it recommended to work with timestamps in seconds rather than formatted timestamps in PHP?

Working with timestamps in seconds is recommended over formatted timestamps in PHP because it allows for easier manipulation and calculations. Timestamps in seconds are easier to work with when performing date arithmetic or comparing dates. To convert a formatted timestamp to seconds, you can use the strtotime() function in PHP.

// Convert a formatted timestamp to seconds
$timestamp = "2022-01-01 12:00:00";
$seconds = strtotime($timestamp);

echo $seconds;