What are some common pitfalls to avoid when handling timestamps in PHP scripts, especially in the context of messaging applications like LAN messengers?

One common pitfall when handling timestamps in PHP scripts for messaging applications is not considering timezones. To avoid issues with timestamps displaying incorrectly or being inconsistent across different users, it is important to always set the correct timezone before working with timestamps.

// Set the default timezone to UTC to ensure consistency
date_default_timezone_set('UTC');

// Get the current timestamp in UTC
$currentTimestamp = time();

// Convert the timestamp to a human-readable format
$currentTime = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $currentTimestamp);

echo "Current Time: " . $currentTime;