Daylight Savings Time (DST) is a period that lasts from Spring to Autumn, which begins when clocks are turned forward one hour. This offset lasts until Autumn, which is when clocks are turned back one hour. On that day in the Spring when we turn clocks forward, one hour in the day disappears. To balance it out, we gain one hour in the Autumn. Unsurprisingly, many people are unhappy about losing an hour in the day. But who is to blame? And, what are the pros and cons of the time shift?
It was first proposed by Benjamin Franklin who sarcastically said that waking up earlier would save candle use and money (Daylight Saving Time). It was then proposed by an entomologist in 1895 who wanted to have more daylight hours to devote to collecting insects (Daylight). His name was George Hudson. Nowadays, only a minority of the world practices Daylight Savings. Asia and Africa generally don’t, along with places of high latitudes and places near the equator (Wikipedia). The real reason for Daylight Savings is to follow the daylight shift that happens naturally as the seasons change. In the Summer, daylight lasts longer. So it makes sense to add an extra hour to the day by moving the clocks forward. If you normally wake up at 8 am, and the clocks are turned forward to 9 am, then you’d have to wake up at (your old) 7 am to wake up at 8 am. Now you have an extra hour of daylight. The same logic is applied for turning the clocks backward in the Winter, since daylight is shorter during Winter. You gain an hour in a day that’s growing shorter. It’s a little confusing, but the point is that Daylight Savings aligns our days with the changing sunrise and sunset. This is why places near the equator and places on completely opposite sides of the equator don’t use Daylight Savings. The places near the equator experience a negligible difference in the sunrise and sunset times as the seasons change. While the places on opposite sides of the equator, at high latitudes, experience such a drastic change in daylight hours that changing clocks one hour wouldn’t be enough.
Daylight Savings has more downsides than upsides, according to many people. A common myth is that it was implemented for farmers so that they can have more time to water their corn or whatever farmers do. Point is, farmers hate Daylight Savings Time. They say that Daylight Savings Time disrupts cows’ readiness to be milked (Agriculture Myth). The actual reason why Daylight Savings Time (DST) was created was to conserve energy during WWI; however, multiple studies have shown that DST actually doesn’t save any energy (California Energy Commission Study). And, health experts argue that DST disrupts your circadian rhythm, which is otherwise in tune with Standard Time (uofmhealth.org). Despite this, Congress has been interested in permanently changing clocks to DST. As a matter of fact, the U.S. Senate on March 15 passed legislation that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent starting in 2023.
I think it’s clear that Daylight Savings is an outdated concept that should be abolished. It doesn’t save energy, and it has public health risks. And, when we switch between time standards, it’s such a pain to change mechanical clocks.
Timely article. I agree, let’s get rid of DST!