Daylight saving time happens twice every year, and yet I am still always caught off-guard. For those who can never remember the order (something I always struggle with), in the fall, in early November, the entirety of America (excluding Arizona and Hawaii) turns its clocks back an hour, and in the spring, in March, they move back forward.
There is a common misconception that daylight savings was created to give farmers more time during the day to harvest their crops, when, in fact, many farmers oppose the practice due to it disrupting their harvest schedule.
Daylight saving time was first implemented during the first World War, as a method to conserve energy that was needed for the war effort. It was implemented by many countries in Europe, and later in America. However, this act was repealed after the war ended, but later President Roosevelt reinstated it in 1942 due to World War II.
After World War II, many states kept using the daylight saving model, while others stopped. This created conflict and many inconsistencies in the schedule, and as a result Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, dictating that daylight savings would occur in April and October, which later changed to March and November.
Despite the fact that only two of the fifty states in America have abolished daylight saving time, many citizens dislike that it happens at all, and wish for it to stop happening. It can affect sleep schedules, productivity, and even confuse pets regarding feeding times (leading to annoying begging).
When asked, Audrey Faiks said that she actually liked daylight savings, like waking up when it’s sunny outside. “I swim after school, so it’s nice to do things when it is light. I would have to wake up earlier if there wasn’t daylight savings.” She says that since she likes to run, the sun rising early gives her an opportunity to run in the morning without waking up early.
Owen Talley said, “I don’t like that it gets darker at 4:30, because I participate in activities that require me to do stuff outdoors at night, and it affects my practicing.”
One thing that was brought up was the fact that the period from November to March is technically standard time. That means that, should daylight savings be removed, we would live in the sunny mornings and dark evenings, no matter what. This would also mean that the sun would set earlier in the summer due to the fact that the clocks wouldn’t move forward.
In general, I think that while daylight savings is annoying for the weeks following the start of it, it really does make things better in the long-run, due to the fact that standard time is the period of time people dislike, so it would be a lose-lose situation in the end.
