Daylight Savings Time: Those two days a year where our clocks and sleep schedules are all ever so slightly messed up, and we’re reminded just how fragile our perception of time really is. Is it increasing our efficiency or causing unnecessary confusion?
America has had plenty of time to get used to Springing Forward, Falling Back. The first countries to implement Daylight Savings Time actually used it as a wartime measure to maximize efficient use of the daylight hours no matter how they changed with the seasons. DST has been official in the U.S. since the Standard Time Act of 1918. But many people are still disoriented by the changing of the clocks. I know that if not for my parents letting me know it’s DST or certain timekeeping appliances glitching out, I personally would completely not notice the time change. It’s pretty harmless in the spring- who doesn’t want an extra hour of time in their day? But in the Fall, losing an hour means people may not get as much sleep. Either way it can affect plans and schedules as well as people’s internal rhythms.
Some locations in the U.S. don’t observe Daylight Savings Time. Arizona matches with the Pacific Daylight Time during spring, but with Mountain Standard Time later in the year, except for the Navajo Nation, who follow Daylight Savings Time as usual. Hawaii, as well as some territories including Puerto Rico and Guam, also forego the time change. State-level legislation can exempt a state from the Uniform Time Act, which is sometimes considered if a state has really high temperature and doesn’t benefit from more light.
Daylight Savings Time does mean that we get more time before dusk each day in the fall and winter. Increased evening light encourages people to shop, dine out, and be more active in general, and can reduce traffic accidents that might have happened in the dark. However, it also messes with people’s circadian rhythms, and workplaces will be dealing with darker mornings and lower productivity.
What do you think- is it efficient to keep up with Daylight Savings Time, or would we be better off with an unchanging timezone?
