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Before I became a parent, I didn’t have especially strong feelings about the time shifting by an hour twice a year. Like most people I was aware of the downsides — increased car accidents, schedule confusion, etc. — and I figured it would be better to knock it off. But I didn’t feel personally offended by having to mess with the handful of clocks in my life that don’t switch automatically. I’m not sure I even had an opinion as to whether, when we stopped changing, we should go with Standard Time or Daylight Savings.
With kids in the fall, it’s different. The days slowly get shorter, cutting deeper and deeper into the early-evening daylight hours where the young ones can play outside. And then, bam, the time change takes away another hour all at once, just because.
On Halloween where I live, the sun will rise at 7:30 a.m. and set at 6 p.m., give or take. The very next day, it will rise at 6:30 and set at 5 instead. Parents who work standard business hours get no daylight with their kids during the week at all in the following months.
It’s not just parents and kids who suffer. As former senator Orrin Hatch has noted, “Each year, we see higher rates of depression associated with less exposure to sunlight; higher energy consumption across the country; higher traffic fatalities with more Americans driving in the dark; higher incidence of crime; and a steep decline in retail sales with fewer consumers willing to shop at night.”
We should stop changing our clocks — and consign “Standard Time” to the dustbin of history where it belongs.
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Before I had grade school-aged kids the time change was just a nuisance in the Spring and Fall. Then when I needed my grade school kids to get their baths and settle down for a short time before their 9:00 – 9:30 bed time it became a major chore, (But, Dad, it’s still light outside.). I rapidly began to hate, and I mean hate, the fact that it did not get dark until after 9:00. I looked forward to more reasonable sun-down time, and still do.
My youngest is now over 40 and I still hate Daylight Savings Time.
Let’s get rid of this blasted time change.
It’s called Standard Time for a reason. Let’s keep it that way year round.
We should just drop daylight saving times and keep standard time year along. Daylight standard time needs to be moved into the history books where it belongs. I’m more of a night person. But that’s not why I think we should.
1- Where I live, for 2 months the sun doesn’t set until after 8:30 PM, during that time it doesn’t get fully dark out until after 9, with the longest days around 9:30. For kids and those who go to bed at 9 PM, that’s punishing them with making them go to bed when it’s LIGHT outside. This is more so for the kids. I already live in an area where sunlight is out for 15+ hours, and if you count light hours it pushes 16 hours. I don’t get to enjoy the night stuff,since it’s light out so long. Any activity that requires darkness is too late.
2- In winter it would suck. I hate waking up when it’s dark out. Sunrise wouldn’t be until late 8 AM and not bright out until 9 AM. That’s just way too late. No matter how you divide your time, if you work a day job. You will likely not see the sun. Even if you boosted sunset later. Meaning more likely we will have more accidents, since night time is so long.
3-Too your point about cutting into evening hours. I can counter that in winter, no matter what the clock says. You won’t get any day hours with them. Even in Fall if you work 9 to 5, you get very little time to play in daylight unless you live close to work. If you miss outdoor stuff, than learn to start indoor stuff. Once November to February comes around, it doesn’t matter if it is an hour later or not, you will not get that time. All you get is maybe 20 days at top a year of more time.
4- It’s better for the kiddos & their sports. Going back to point 1, most elementary kids should be by 9 and it should be way dark. When you get to high school sports, this would force them a bit to play at reasonable times. Instead of starting a game like at 8:30 PM and play until 10 PM. This would more likely make it 7:30 to 9PM. Yeah a lot our played on a weekend, so you can sleep in a bit. But this would allow kids to get to bed before midnight who do play sports. This would allow better sleeping for high school students & middle school who play sports. Better sleep also generally equals better performances.
5- The problem is we are slaves to the clock time. Our internal clocks are meant to be when the sun is at it highest point, it is noon. You can’t force the human body without ending in some damages.
6- Hatch might be right, but there is also reverse SAD. Which is probably just as common as seasonal SAD or maybe even more common. There will never be a happy medium on this. We also see higher energy consumption when we adjust the clocks. The rest are just flaws of capitalist at all cost.