For many years, many state governments, as well as the federal government, have passed laws to either make Daylight Savings Time permanent or abolish it completely. Only this time, it actually passed in the House of Representatives. While it shows that they’re finally making progress, people are complaining about making DST permanent. They point out that if they do that, morning risers will be hurt, especially the kids who have to go to school in the dark. They’re even starting to speak out. Even though it’s not one of these many issues that are so contentious that it would lead to political violence or would have many more serious consequences (like the COVID-19 lockdowns), people are passionate about it because time of the day is something everyone experiences every single day. Whether we eliminate fossil fuels altogether isn’t going to affect everybody since there’s other ways to provide electricity. It would only put some people out of a job and raise spending on power. Whether we implement a single-payer universal healthcare may change healthcare drastically, not everyone works in the medical field, and healthcare isn’t something that you seek daily. Whether we raise the minimum wage for fast food workers may impact the fast food industry, but not everyone eats fast food, and fast food isn’t something people eat every day. But whether we switch to permanent daylight time or permanent standard time will affect everybody since time is a daily thing experienced by everyone.
If there’s anything both the permanent daylight camp and permanent standard camp can agree on, it’s that changing the clock twice a year is no longer beneficial to today’s society. Every time we spring forward, we lose one hour of sleep (or wake up later, but that would mean being late to work). Every time we fall back, nights begin much earlier in a time that the sun is rising later and setting earlier via seasonal changes. But above all, our body clocks cannot be adjusted quite easily. Mechanical time can be adjusted quite easily, but it takes a while for people to adjust to the new time. So regardless of what we choose, it’s time to end switching the clock twice.
Why I support Permanent DST:
The Sunshine Protection Act will enforce permanent daylight time once it’s passed and signed into law. While that seems less popular, even among people who wanted to keep Daylight Savings Time, I prefer permanent daylight time, even though my birthday, along with New Year’s Day, Christmas, and Thanksgiving are within the realm of Standard Time.
First of all, I prefer later sunsets. I usually don’t wake up early since I go to bed late. When sunsets are later, that allows me to walk outside later in the day (unless if I want to walk outside at night and, in the late year, see the Christmas lights). Every day that DST begins on our current time, I experience the first day that the sun sets around 7 PM. I enjoy that. But around the time we switch back, the skies at 7 PM no longer have any sunlight. Switching it back would mean that even 6 PM will be completely dark (and if you live further up north, 5 PM is completely out of the Sun). The skies at 6 PM will eventually be free of sunlight anyways. Switching it back would make it worse.
Yes, switching to Permanent Daylight Time will hardly provide any benefits to the evening in the Winter months, while the mornings will take the toll. But it’s still better than nothing. Let’s say that you’re seeking a job. One pays $15 an hour, and the other pays $16 an hour. The one that pays more would generally do more benefit. But this time, the higher-paying job isn’t going to provide any benefit. Would you still take the $16 job over the $15 job? The answer is yes, because the $16 job may still cover the same expenses the $15 job wouldn’t. Even if it wouldn’t do much, it still did something that the lower-paying job couldn’t do. The same works with daylight savings time in the Winter. Hardly anybody wants to see the sun set before 5 PM.
Now we tried this in 1974, and it was very unpopular. Our country didn’t handle it well when we were on Permanent DST. But, when we even introduced Daylight Savings Time back in 1918, it was very unpopular then, and it never got touched on again. Until World War II. And then in 1966, it became a regular thing, as every year, we switched the clock twice a day. If we did Permanent DST, and it stayed with us after a few couple years, people would be used to it, and then they wouldn’t want to go back.
Suggestions if Permanent DST becomes a thing:
So let’s go to the downsides of permanent DST. While the Summer isn’t much of a battleground, and clock switching will go away, the Winter is where people will have problems with when DST is permanent.
Later Sunrises:
This is the number one complaint about Permanent DST. If we switched to permanent DST, there will be no way that the Sun will rise any earlier than 7:00 AM anywhere in the United States during the Winter months. And only some states observe sunrises earlier than 8:00 AM. That means, if you go further north, or you are more west within your time zone, the Sun could rise as late as 8:45 AM or even 9:00 AM. Even 8:00 AM is quite late for a sunrise. A 9:00 AM sunrise would be more absurd.
- What they can do: All states north of the 37-degree N parallel can switch to Permanent Standard Time to avoid the 9 AM sunrises, and all states south of the 37-degree N parallel (except for Arizona and Hawaii) can switch to Permanent Daylight Time. And in the case of California, the counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Kern, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, and Imperial can be on Permanent Daylight Time while all others are on Permanent Standard Time. Daylight Savings Time is better for tourism, and the tourism industry is a big deal in the states of California, Texas, and Florida.
I will have to admit, this is not a “one size fits all” concept. Just like raising the minimum wage to $15 or banning gas-powered cars, it’s not going to work everywhere. While it would be better for places like Texas and Florida, it would be worse for places like Alaska and Montana.
School in the Dark:
While some kids will have to go to school when it’s dark during the Winter months, Permanent DST would make this problem worse. And then, all kids will have to go to school in the dark. The ones who go to school earlier will start school about an hour or two before the Sun rises. College students are affected by this as well.
- What they can do: If Daylight Savings Time was made permanent, they can adjust school times to one hour later. That means, kids start going to school later, but they finish school later. If you think 4:00 PM is too late as a school ending time, it’s better than having to start school while the Sun is down. Some colleges and workplaces can follow this suit as well.
If there’s anything that isn’t going to change, it’s that the typical breakfast-to-lunch time starts at 10:30 AM. It won’t be adjusted to 9:30 AM if DST is abolished. It won’t be adjusted to 11:30 AM if DST was made permanent. It will be at 10:30 AM either way.
Sundials no longer accurate:
I’ll have to say, the sundial is an ancient clock that is no longer being used. But it did help create modern clocks. If we went to Permanent DST, 1:00 PM would be noon, and 12:00 PM would be in the morning. This is already a problem with the Summer months. But if this was the case for the Winter months as well, then this becomes a relic of the past.
- What they can do: Honestly, there really isn’t anything you can do about this. These rely on nature rather than robotics. But we can admit that all measurements, including measurements based on science, were all man-made. Seconds were based on heartbeats, which then became the base unit for time. Feet were based on King Henry’s definition of a foot, while meters were based on distance from the equator to the north pole. Whether they based them on arbitrary measurements or scientific measurements, they still made up the measurements. Especially money.
Conclusion:
The bottom line is, whether we go to permanent DST or permanent ST, it would be better to go either way than to keep switching the clocks. People are getting tired of doing this, and it really has a negative impact on health.
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