We have reached the time of year again when most Americans wake up one day feeling like something is a bit off. It’s the end of daylight saving time for 48 U.S. states, as November 2 marked the annual “fall back” tradition of setting clocks back an hour and returning to standard time.
Each spring, the country enters daylight saving time by collectively setting clocks forward by an hour overnight in the name of maximizing daylight hours during the summer months. In the fall, we return to standard time by setting our clocks back to their original states as the daylight cycle naturally becomes shorter, so we can have more daylight during winter mornings. Every U.S. state except for Hawaii and Arizona currently participates in the daylight saving time cycle.
Daylight saving time is a controversial practice in this country. Many Americans, including myself, have argued for the end of the current daylight saving time cycle, citing the inconvenience of having to reset their clocks twice a year and adjust to the changes.
According to NBC, the Senate has twice attempted in recent years to pass a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent for the whole year, to varying degrees of success. The first try in 2022 passed in the Senate but failed to advance in the House, while the second attempt this January didn’t make it out of the Senate at all. On top of this, almost every state has considered its own legislation that would make either standard or daylight saving time permanent, and 19 states have passed such bills. However, since federal law does not allow year-round daylight saving time, they are left to wait for Congress to pass a bill before they can make any changes.
Aside from the perceived inconvenience of having to manually change our clocks twice a year, I have a couple of other complaints about the traditional daylight saving time cycle.
I would describe both the start and end of daylight saving time as a trade-off of sorts. That is, we have to lose one thing to gain something else. In the spring, we enter daylight saving time by skipping an hour and consequently losing an hour of sleep, which we all dread, with the promise of longer days and a later sunset. In the fall, we get an extra hour of sleep when we set the clocks back to standard time, which is a brief moment of happiness before the sun begins to set way earlier than we would all like it to, and everything gets a bit more depressing.
It’s this back-and-forth process that I have a problem with, not so much the idea of daylight saving time itself. The biannual switch between daylight saving time and standard time is inconvenient and feels increasingly less necessary and supported by most of the country. This is why I believe that we should either fully commit to daylight saving time for the whole year or scrap it entirely. I would prefer either option over the system we have right now.
The Earth’s daylight cycle exists as it does for a reason, and in my mind, it would only be healthier for us as humans if we let that cycle occur naturally without trying to outsmart it and causing disruption for ourselves twice a year. Besides, what we define as “time” is completely made up by humans, and there was plenty of time in human history before daylight saving time was created where everyone managed just fine.
Most people would probably have a strong preference for whether we should stick to standard time, which would maximize morning daylight or saving time, which results in a later sunset. Personally, I’m more inclined to prefer a longer day with a later sunset, but like I said, I would settle for either option at this point. I’m just making the humble request for Congress to break us out of this cycle.
Justin Dearborn can be reached at
jdearborn@kscequinox.com
