Grow Up About Moving The Clock Forward

On the list of serious problems facing the country in March 2025 and on the list of wrongheaded policy pursuits of the Trump administration, the growing push to abolish daylight savings time wouldn't even rank in the top 100.  But given that it was that time again this weekend and we moved our clock ahead one hour amidst the usual chorus of boo-hooing, it's time to get real about this issue.  Moving the clock back an hour in the fall and ahead in the spring is unequivocally the most efficient and least disruptive option to the flow of everyday life, particularly for those of us living in the northern states.  Whatever trivial sacrifice is required in short-term sleep pattern disruption is more than worth it compared to the alternatives.

 The U.S. learned this lesson in 1974 during the oil embargo and the push to conserve energy.  It was decided that the country would pivot to year-round daylight savings time, effective January 6, 1974.  It was popular in concept but fell out of favor about five minutes after enactment.  In three months time, favorability for the transition dropped from 79% to 42%.  It turns out when it's dark until after 9 a.m., it's harder to see schoolkids going to the bus stop.  Eight of them were killed in traffic accidents en route to school.  The construction industry wasn't thrilled either that work couldn't begin until the morning was half over.  The pivot to year-round daylight savings time was repealed later in 1974.  

How soon we forget.  

A half century later, the momentum keeps growing for giving this foolishness a second try.  That momentum may have reached its apex now that the richest and most evil man in the world has recommended doing away with daylight savings time, declaring it "inefficient", whatever that means.  Considering Elon Musk tends to get whatever he wants, this could really happen this time.  And I'm sure it would start out just as popular as it was at this time in 1973 by people with short memories or lackluster critical thinking skills, which is the vast majority of the population.

The majority of the people who would support this would have a near-instant reality check when they learned that Musk's version of "efficiency" doesn't mean year-round daylight savings time, but year-round regular time.  In other words, no more extra daylight in the summer.  What do you get instead?  The sun rising at 4:30 a.m. in June and July and being awakened by chirping birds two hours before the alarm goes off rather than one hour before.  Then people grumbling about moving the clock twice a year would really have something to whine about regarding their "altered sleep pattern".  The buyer's remorse would kick in pretty quickly once people realized that.  

But Arizona doesn't follow daylight savings time and they seem to do okay!!!!

It's true.  Arizona chose to snub the federal daylight savings time policy in 1968.  But as I hinted at earlier, screwing around with daylight savings time has a vastly more significant impact on those in northern latitudes.  The further one lives from the equator, the more daylight they gain in the summer or lose in the winter.  Minnesota has an hour less daylight than Arizona in December and an hour more daylight each day in June.  Failing to adjust the clock seasonally would be less disruptive in Arizona than it would in Minnesota.

Given that this is the case, I suppose I'd be okay with leaving daylight savings time laws to the states, but it would be even more problematic for national cohesion if a third of the states chose to be on permanent regular time, another third chose to be on year-round daylight savings time, and the other third stuck with moving their clocks back and forth twice a year.  Would we really want to go down this road?

Ultimately, there just isn't a good argument for change here.  Changing the clock twice a year helps alleviate the daylight fluctuations between the seasons in a way that accommodates the schedules that most people follow.  The idea that it will be more "efficient" or less disruptive to sleep to either wake up to 4:30 a.m. sunrises in the summer or to be up and about three hours before 9 a.m. sunrises in the winter is laughable.  Elon Musk is already causing enough figurative headaches for Americans with everything else he's doing.  Let's not allow him to cause literal headaches for Americans by scrapping daylight savings time.