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Daylight savings time springs mixed opinions
MON. | 04-11-22 | OPINION
We are approaching the time of year where clocks will be turned an hour back, which means that an hour of our day will be lost. It's daylight savings time. If you don't know already, this year, daylight savings time will begin on Mar. 13 and will end on Nov. 6.
The idea originated from entomologist and astronomer George Hudson, years after Benjamin Franklin mentioned it in an article he wrote called ̈An Economical Project.̈ It turned out that he was slightly joking about doing so.
Hudson wanted to shorten the time to create longer productive hours so he would be able to hunt bugs while limiting the use of artificial light. However, when he presented this idea, it wasn't taken seriously. It wasn't until 1905, when British builder William Willett came up with the idea to move time 20 minutes ahead every Sunday in September, that the idea was taken seriously. I think that the change in time has been both beneficial and detrimental.
Daylight Savings Time was first used in Germany on May 1, 1916, during World War l. It was first used in the
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United States when a bill known as The Standard Time Act was passed by Congress in 1918. It was then made permanent on April 12, 1966, when introduced by the U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Even though a bill was passed to allow it to be made permanent, not all states agree with the idea of daylight savings time, like Arizona and Hawaii, because of their locations.
While daylight savings time has many pros, it also has many cons. For example, the change in time could ruin someone's sleep schedule even though it reduces the risks of accidents and crimes, which I can agree to, knowing that most crimes are committed during the evening.
The average person needs around seven to nine hours of sleep. The change in time could leave many feeling drained the next day because of the change in their sleep patterns. I don't think that the idea of daylight savings time should be considered pointless, but I do believe that the time shouldn't be changed because sleep is important for our health. I think that it is rather extreme to shift an hour of the day to increase labor and productivity in our lives. Doing so also leads me to believe that daylight savings time can cause many people to become lazy, because there will be less room for productivity with the lack of energy they would have to get work done.
There are many pros and cons to daylight savings time. I just wouldn't consider the increase in productivity as a good thing when there are negative effects of it as well because of the change in time. I think that more information has been learned about the topic now, compared to how it was in the past. In the past, it was viewed as a way to increase productivity which was a focus in society back then, but now it is known that the change in time can have some serious consequences as well.
I think that the change in time is almost unnecessary, because our daily lives can continue without daylight savings time. I think that it's not really beneficial to continue in doing so, because I think that we can be more productive while we have enough energy without rewinding our clocks an hour back. I wish we'd just do permanent daylight savings time so we wouldn't have to deal with the change, but would still get more daylight waking hours.
