Time change touted for many reasons by lobbyists
When I was younger, I had no quarrel with the time change. But
like so many other things in life, the older I get, the more taxing
it is to switch from Standard Time to Daylight Savings Time
– and vice versa.
Time change touted for many reasons by lobbyists
When I was younger, I had no quarrel with the time change. But like so many other things in life, the older I get, the more taxing it is to switch from Standard Time to Daylight Savings Time – and vice versa.
I found myself at the beginning of this week walking around in a daze from the effects of springing forward an hour. It’s been compared to jet lag. It doesn’t seem like it should affect people so much, but it does.
In past years, Daylight Savings Time never bothered me. In fact, it was a reason to celebrate.
Not everyone likes Daylight Savings Time, but I do. I love having extra daylight at the end of the day. After dinner, there’s time to go for a walk, play with the dog, work in the garden, or drive a car in greater safety. I feel energized by the change – usually.
This year, not so much.
It’s funny about Daylight Savings Time (or DST, as some abbreviate it, according to Wikipedia). A lot of people hate DST. It has been controversial ever since it began, and the fight has gone on ever since it was introduced in the United States more than 90 years ago.
Retailers, sporting goods makers, and other businesses also like DST – a lot. People shop more and play more sports when there’s extra sunlight, so naturally businesses want to keep that going.
So over the decades, business has lobbied for the time change, and other concerns – agriculture and Hollywood, mainly – lobby against the change. (Fewer people go to the movies when the sun is shining.)
The debate has gone back and forth since 1918 (when DST was ostensibly started to save coal during World War I), with periods of no DST and then DST, but in 1966 it was standardized and became a permanent part of our cultural landscape.
At least in most states. Arizona and Hawaii don’t observe the time change.
I always thought DST had to do with saving energy – remember President Nixon’s little experiment with year-round DST in the 1970s? But in fact, according to Wikipedia, energy savings are sketchy at best, and the data is inconclusive.
Sure, we don’t have to turn on as many lights later in the day, but some studies find that the energy usage simply shifts – we’re turning on those lights in the morning when we get up, under DST.
So that brings us back to those darn business lobbyists. At its heart, I suppose, DST is a plot to get us to spend more money.
Everyone’s got an opinion on DST, even going back to Winston Churchill, who said it provides “the opportunities for the pursuit of health and happiness among the millions of people who live in this country.” (England was first to adopt DST, followed by other European countries and then various places in the world.)
U.S. President Warren G. Harding, on the other hand, opposed DST as a “deception.”
I had no idea the whole thing was so controversial. The things you learn from reading Wikipedia.
All kinds of things, including increased incidence of heart attacks, has been blamed on the twice-yearly changes in our clocks. On the other hand, some people like to point out that there are good effects as well – there are fewer auto accidents when we have that extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day.
But there is definitely that grogginess of switching back and forth. I definitely feel it more in the fall, but the spring hadn’t been a problem for me. Until this year.
Pour me another cup of coffee. I’m going to need it.
