“Daylight Saving Time” (DST) is simply explained as winding the clocks back or forward by one hour. This takes place between Saturday and Sunday.
You wind the clocks an hour forward during the winter to spring season. You wind the clocks an hour back during the fall to winter season. It can really screw up a person’s circadian rhythm.
For this reason, I do not like Daylight Saving Time. So far, it has been a tradition for most of United States
history.
So far, DST has little to no merits and many more demerits. Daylight savings is about saving daylight. However, DST does not really save daylight for the most part. There are massive pros and cons with the practice of DST.
Still, there are good benefits for DST.
If you enjoy being outdoors let alone outdoors in daylight, DST grants you extra daylight. This is the first benefit of DST.
In regards to energy, less electricity is consumed because of the extra daylight granted. You do not have to turn on the lights in your place until later in the night. However, it is only effective in certain parts of the world let alone in the United States.
There are a few exceptions to DST.
When I visited Chicago
around November of 2007, I was introduced to the “winter blues.” Ironically, DST time go into effect the start of the next day. It had gotten very dark around four in the afternoon. Around five in the afternoon, it had gotten to be very dark. In the case of Chicago, DST did not really grant extra daylight.
Depending on what of the world you live in, it could get dark quicker. In one place, it may not get dark until about six or seven in the evening. Or, it could happen around eight in the evening. It could get dark around four or five in the afternoon. This is one of the reasons that DST is controversial.
One of the benefits would be the reduction of electricity use. However, this is hardly the case as patterns have changed and grids have become larger and wider. As a result, DST is considered controversial. It has revealed that there are no significant savings of energy.
However, it would be businesses and sporting events that benefit the most. With the extra daylight, it gets people outside more.
But other businesses such as agriculture take a serious hurting because it messes with the hours that farmers work.
It was supposed to also reduce traffic fatalities. But recent studies reveal that it is far from the truth. When you factor everything together, DST does more harm than good as a result. As a result, DST is not observed by most parts of the world.
What seemed to be a good idea at the beginning would have adverse effects in the future. Today, DST looks to do more harm than good as a result. One could ask: Where did DST originate from?
Roughly, it originated from the late eighteenth century by Benjamin Franklin. It was based off of a satire he wrote called “Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” This was purely satirical. During that time, there were no accurate schedules.
That would change only where there were rail and communication networks in place. While it was based off of a satire, the concept was proposed by William Willett in 1905. In that respect, it originated from England. Willett is the true inventor of DST. He would publish “The Waste of Daylight.”
Willett fiercely campaigned for DST. By the time it became law, Willett had died of influenza. He came up with the idea for two reasons. The first reason is that Willett loved to play golf and did not like to cut his golf time short. The second reason is that he saw many sleeping through a large part of the day during the summer season.
In the long run, DST had done more harm than good. There are many cons than pros for DST. DST barely has any benefits. The only semi-benefit would be during the fall time in which you get an extra hour of sleep. But, you have to readjust to the schedule because of it. It can mess up your circadian rhythm. If you are flying through time zones, DST will make your jet lag worse.
In the United States, DST is still in effect. However, DST takes place much earlier nowadays. This is because of a successful lobby back in 2007 by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association and the National Association of Convenience Stores. Because of this, you do not wind the clock back in hour until later in the fall.
You end up winding the clock forward an hour in early March.
