I don’t know about you, but the recent time change sure did make me tired! Just being an hour ahead of my own schedule threw me off for a couple of days. With that being said, I started to become curious about why we have daylight saving time every year.
The saying “spring forward - fall back” is a simple description of what daylight saving time means. We use these time movements to help make natural daylight more useful. The first known idea for saving daylight came about in 1784 when Benjamin Franklin published an essay known as “An Economical Project.” A few of the statements from Franklin in the project include “Every morning, as soon as the sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing” and “Oblige a man to rise at four in the morning, and it is more than probable that he will go willingly to bed at eight in the evening.” As time went on, the system of daylight saving time became more relevant in the United States. In 1918, Congress passed the Standard Time Act, which set up the schedule for daylight saving. It didn’t last very long, though. There was a vast majority of people who were skeptical about the idea. One of the most known groups of people who were against daylight saving was farmers. They believed that it was only benefiting the people who worked in an office environment. With all of the controversy being present, Congress had been plastered with repeal bills to daylight saving time. Therefore, the law was quickly removed. Since all of this happened so fast, the United States had only seven months with daylight saving time.
After many years of silence about the topic, daylight saving was implemented into American life once again after World War 2. The consistency from state to state in terms of use and timing was very different. With several Acts being passed, however, the country was all back on the same page with timing.
Even though 32 states proposed bills to end the use of daylight saving in 2020,
most Americans still move their clocks around every year. It may sound crazy that so many people are still against the usage of daylight saving, but it’s not just inside of the United States. Less than 40% of countries in the world actually use daylight saving time. Japan, China, and India are some of the larger countries that have decided not to implement daylight saving.
In terms of the exact times when Americans change their clocks, it is the second Sunday in March (forward one hour) and the first Sunday in November (back one hour). Those dates were decided in 2007 in the United States. It hasn’t always been like this, though. Many bills passed by Congress have changed the timing of the annual occurrence. Before 2007, the United States changed clocks closer to the summer months and then held them back shortly before winter.
As described earlier, daylight saving is meant to help make the most use of the natural light that we have. However, there are some rather significant negative effects of putting it in place. The first disadvantage is sleep deprivation. I can certainly speak first hand on this one. This loss of sleep can lead to many different events that can happen. Things like car accidents are reported to increase following the time change. Another disadvantage of changing the clocks is that it may hurt one’s mental health. Especially for people who are constantly working, this is one of the most present failures of daylight saving time. According to many pieces of research, suicide rates have been reported to significantly increase in the following days of daylight saving. The final extremely relevant disadvantage is that the productivity of people is lessened. Coupled with the fact that people are tired, they also tend to be less productive. The Monday after the springtime change is even referred to as “Sleepy Monday.” Even if you decide to go to bed an hour earlier than usual the night before the change, your internal clock is still going to be behind.
There is obviously a lot of history that is ingrained into what we call daylight saving time today. Just in the United States, there has been a variety of important events that have shaped where we are today with this. Without these things, our yearly light patterns would be much different. Given that it provides for many more hours of sunlight a year, there are also multiple important downfalls that should not go unnoticed. With all of that being said, what is your preference for daylight saving time? Do you think it should continue to be used?
Works Cited
Bryner, Jeanna. “Daylight Saving Time 2021: When We Change Our Clocks and Why.” LiveScience, Purch, 11 Mar. 2021, www.livescience.com/56048-daylight-saving-time-guide.html.
“Daylight Saving Time 2021: When Does the Time Change?” Old Farmer's Almanac, www.almanac.com/content/when-daylight-saving-time#:~:text=What%20Is%20Daylight%20Saving%20Time,back%20again%20in%20the%20fall.
Miller, Zoë “10 Reasons Why Daylight Savings Is the Worst.” Insider, Insider, 3 Mar. 2020, www.insider.com/daylight-savings-negative-effects-2018-3.
“Top 3 Pros and Cons of Daylight Saving Time.” ProCon.org, 15 Mar. 2021, www.procon.org/headlines/top-3-pros-and-cons-of-daylight-saving-time/.