Clocks across the nation ‘fell back’ on Nov. 7, marking the end of 2021 Daylight Savings Time.
After all the biannual effort that goes into resetting alarms and rescheduling, one may begin to question the significance of Daylight Savings Time in the first place.
“I guess I always figured DST was a way to make agricultural farm work fit in with 8-5 industry stuff, but apparently that isn’t right at all,” Jennifer DeBerard, a nontraditional student majoring in social work, said.
Daylight Savings Time as we know it today is a practice intended to make better use of daylight hours. Benjamin Franklin is often credited for first introducing the world to the concept, but it was not utilized until the 1900s.
“My understanding of Daylight Savings is to either ‘spring forward’ or ‘fall back’ an hour depending on the season,” Molly Peper, a junior majoring in Psychology, said. “They base it on the rotation of the Earth and where the Sun is.”
“It has always seemed to me like everyone has an answer, and no one really knows what it is done for,” History major Kathleen Ransone said. “Everywhere you look and everyone you ask has like two or three different answers.”
DeBarard, Peper, and Ransone are just some of the students who experience confusion when it comes to the past and practices of Daylight Savings Time.
In March of 1918, the United States lost its first hour of sleep. Today approximately 70 countries utilize daylight savings time.
Only two states within the U.S. have discarded DST in favor of permanent winter/standard time. Those states being Arizona and Hawaii.
“Personally, I am not a fan. It mostly just messes with my head twice a year,” DeBerard said.
“Maybe it’s just my profession or my experience, but I have never found any purpose in it,” Ransone said. “It honestly just comes down to fact that it doesn’t matter to me about going home while it’s dark or light.”
Daylight savings time means less sleep for participating countries. For this and a multitude of other reasons, changing the clocks is loathed by those who it leaves tired and late for work.
“It usually just makes me feel disoriented and makes me change my clocks- I don’t benefit from it,” Jamie Gagnon, a freshman in exploratory studies, said.
“I like to joke that the only reason it still exists is because state governments and employers like to mess with people twice a year,” junior Psychology major, Ethan Bryan said. “Jokes aside, for the majority of people, it does serve to mess with the biological clock and that is not good.”
Bryan emphasized that the practice could be detrimental to students’ circadian rhythm.
“We have a specific biological sleep cycle called the circadian rhythm, and [DST] can easily upset that cycle,” Bryan explained. “Anything that messes with how humans naturally wake up and go to sleep could have problematic physical and mental effects.”
The Department of Transportation, responsible for both DST and the nation’s time zones, says the practice saves energy, prevents traffic accidents and reduces crime.
“My understanding of DST is that it was created to help farmers and other workers have more daylight throughout the year,” Gagnon said.
Despite the government’s reassurance, a large portion of U.S. states tend to disapprove of Daylight Savings Time.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, “In the last four years, 19 states have enacted legislation or passed resolutions to provide for year-round saving time, if Congress were to allow such a change.”
While DST may prove helpful to local businesses and electric bills, recent studies suggest that DST is responsible for throwing off one’s natural sleep habits.
A 2016 study by the American Economic Association even suggests that the spring transition into daylight savings increases fatal car crashes risks by 5-6%.
“I think Daylight Savings could be modified. It should happen in October and April instead of November and March, so it isn’t too dark or too bright when the sun first comes up or when the sun starts to set,” Peper said.
“Unless I am missing something, I don’t see a benefit and I think it should be just removed and forgotten,” Ransone said.
“At this point, I think there are much more negative affects then there are positive ones,” said Bryan. “Until I see otherwise, I would agree with anyone who said that [DST] should be stopped.”
As these controversial conversations continue into the 21st century, the future of Daylight Savings Time is unclear- but for now, be sure to savor that extra hour of sleep.
