We’ve gone back to God’s time thank Him. The silliest thing I know of is daylight saving time. Why don’t they get up with me?
Harry Truman, October 2, 1947, letter to Bess Truman
As you “gain” an hour of sleep tomorrow, please recall the history of this bad idea. Daylight Savings Time in the US was ushered in by Congress on March 19, 1918 with the Standard Time Act of 1918 as a temporary war measure, and, son of a gun, Daylight Savings Time was repealed by Congress in 1919, over the veto of President Wilson. Daylight Savings Time came back with World War II. From 1945-1966 local communities were left to determine whether to observe Daylight Savings Time which normally ran from April to September. Congress in 1966 made Daylight Savings Time national with the Uniform Time Act, with Daylight Savings Time running from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In response to the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, Congress started Daylight Savings Time in 1974 on January 6 and in 1975 on February 23. Parents were real thrilled with their kids walking to school in the dark (that is when my 17 year old self realized that a great number of Congress Critters were idiots) and the start and stop dates for Daylight Savings Time went back to April and September in 1976. Congress in 2005 tinkered with Daylight Savings Time again, setting it from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.
It is arguable that Daylight Savings Time has never made sense, but it certainly does not today in a global economy and e-commerce 24-7. Time to do away with this annoying anachronism.
Completely agree. I have been told that the “hospitality industry” has a powerful lobby in Swamptown, and that it is an article of faith for said industry that DST is worth big money to them. I have never been able to follow completely their logic, but it has something to do with believing people are more likely to pay exorbitant prices for vacations if sunrise and sunset are delayed by an hour. I am not aware of any proof of this assertion, though no doubt the industry’s PR apparatus has constructed “studies” to prove their point and to argue that what’s good for them is good for the nation. In any case, here in North Texas the sun now rises after 7:30 AM, thanks to the DST fiction, which is simply absurd.
The reason this whole thing is so colossally stupid is that if we just maintained one or the other, people could adjust for themselves. Want more daylight? Get up earlier. Or don’t. Whatever. Businesses and schools could simply adapt to whatever their geographic location gives them for daylight.
Amen!
If places want to have winter hours, LET THEM SET THEIR OWN DANG WINTER HOURS.
We have DST for eight months a year. We should just keep it.
In the summer I don’t want sunrise to be at 4AM and sunset at 7:45.
We should just keep it (DST) in the summer.
Except Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time: it is standard time year round.
“We should just keep it (DST) in the summer.”
Until about the mid-1980s DST began on the last Sunday of April and ended on the last Sunday of October. I don’t seem to recall that schedule being a big problem. As it stands right now DST starts about a month too early (in March), unnecessarily delaying sunrise while not adding a whole lot more daylight at the end of the day. I would have no problem with having DST revert to an April 15-Oct. 15 (maybe even Oct. 1) schedule. We do not need a 4 a.m. sunrise in the summer nor do we need a 7:30 a.m. sunrise in the spring and fall….
When I have some time I will write a more complete piece defending DST.
I suspect those who complain about it have no maple trees or kids that play baseball.
There was an interesting AskScience AMA on Reddit a couple days about about this issue, were medical doctors shared their research and thoughts on DST. Bottom line is that Standard (non-DST) time is better and DST should be permanently abandoned. From a paper they listed in the AMA:
“The choice of DST is political and therefore can be changed. If we want to improve human health, we should not fight against our body clock, and therefore, we should abandon DST and return to Standard Time (which is when the sun clock time most closely matches the social clock time) throughout the year. This solution would fix both the acute and the chronic problems of DST. We therefore strongly support removing DST changes or removing permanent DST and having governing organizations choose permanent Standard Time for the health and safety of their citizens.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/dq2nv3/askscience_ama_series_we_are_researchers_studying/
Did we really “gain” an hour? I distinctly remember “losing” it earlier this year. Seems even now and reminds me of the IRS. Are we sure they weren’t involved in this decision making?
Is DST consistent throughout all US States?It’s a hot political topic in my neck of the woods…The State of Queensland refuses to observe it during the spring/summer period when Victoria and New South Wales observe it. Therefore Queensland is the only state on the East Coast which is always 1 hour behind the rest. Even though all 3 states sit directly above each other.
Growing up I always heard DST defended as a measure to help farmers. Growing up on a arm, this always struck me as utterly ridiculous. On a farm you do things when they need to get done, not based on what the clock says. Farmers don’t get up at 4AM because they are following a schedule from corporate saying that they need to do something when the clock strikes 5.
In fact DST actually is an increased pain on dairy farms. Cows like being milked consistently at the same times each day, but they don’t know when it’s daylight saving time or not. Some farmers simply wouldn’t change the absolute times, meaning a different by the clock schedule depending on the time of year. Others would need a transition period where they shift milking times by fifteen minutes or so each day.
If you’re doing things because you need to beat the sun then you had no option but to change your schedule relative to what the clock said. While on the farm that isn’t that bad, but it can be a major pain when you have to go into town for supplies, to sell crops, etc.
DST is a scourge and indefensible. That the candy companies have pushed it to after Halloween is further evidence of it’s corporate banality. (And yes I had kids play sports.)
In belated reply to your question, Ezabelle, no, it is not consistently observed in the US. Arizona (except the Navajos in “Navajo Nation” 🤦🏻♂️) and Hawaii do not use it, nor do the various overseas “territories.”
For those of us who detest the practice, here’s an idea: get the Democrats to believe either that (a) DST is something beloved by “MAGA Republicans”, or (b) DST contributes to “climate change”, and it will disappear faster than a news story about leftist riots in the District of Columbia.