MSN Shopping, June 28th, 2007
Before you go to bed on the last Saturday in October, there’s one last thing you need to do. Set your alarm clock back one hour. And the clocks on your stove and microwave. Oh, and the one on your TiVo or VCR. Don’t forget your watch. And the clock in your car? Better take care of that while you think of it. Don’t forget your answering machine and the clock on your cell phone. Did you change the programmed thermostat?
By the time you take care of all this, you’ve probably lost most of the hour you’ll gain at two the next morning. But then there are lots of good reasons we mess with the clocks twice a year, right?
A brief history of (daylight saving) time
The first person to come up with the idea also flew kites during thunderstorms. While representing the U.S. in France in 1784, Benjamin Franklin proposed it in an essay titled An Economical Project. He wasn’t entirely serious, either. One of his suggestions was to fire cannons in each town square at dawn "to wake the sluggards and open their eyes to their true interest." But, the idea captivated the imaginations of many at the time and, always quick to act on any proposal for the common good, Congress made it official in March of 1918 – only to repeal it seven months later. It was back again in 1942, repealed again in 1945. Until 1966, it was left up to individual states and localities to decide, before the passage of The Uniform Time Act made it compulsory (except, of course, in Arizona, Hawaii and half of Indiana, though in the latter case, the eastern half of the state came back into the fold this year). The start and end dates have changed four times, with a fifth scheduled to begin in 2007, when daylight saving begins on the second Sunday in March and ends the first Sunday in November.
It was actually the Germans, under Kaiser Wilhelm, who were the first to experiment with daylight saving time, kicking it off in April, 1916, followed by the British a month later. Newfoundland became the first North American locale to adopt it in 1917, but for the rest of the Canadian provinces, it’s still optional. Saskatchewan, for example, won’t have any part of it and certain areas of Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have chosen to ignore it, too.
China gave it a try in 1986, but less than ten years later they opted for a single DST-free zone for the entire country. Countries in tropical regions, where sunrise and sunset times vary little throughout the year, also take a pass.
Clearly, with this sort of solid consensus, daylight saving is an idea whose time has occasionally come.
Why do it?
I always heard that we play hide and seek with an hour twice a year to help the farmers. It turns out that they were among the first to lobby against it. Dairy farmers were especially disgruntled because Elsie saw no point in adjusting her biological clock to suit the new milking schedule. Actually, the strongest proponents were urban business leaders, who figured that working stiffs might be more inclined to shop on their way home with an extra hour of daylight.
Today, DST fans are more likely to tout the energy conservation benefits. Since most of us turn in at the same time each night, theoretically by adding an extra hour of daylight in the summer, we don’t turn on the lights quite as early. (Although, if you get home an hour earlier during the hot months, you’re also more likely to turn up the air-conditioner).
And then there’s the safety argument that it allows kids to get to and from school in the daylight. I can see where bumping sunrise ahead an hour in March and back an hour in October might have that effect, but that still leaves the morning bus stop in the dark for much of November through February.
Why not?
Aside from the semi-annual inconvenience of re-setting every clock in your home and workplace, the time swap effectively gives the nation a mild case of jetlag every spring and fall. At least one study has indicated that the shift coincides with a spike in traffic accidents caused by dozy drivers. And then there’s the loss of productivity as we worker bees adjust to the new hour.
Airlines and freight companies suffer kinks in their schedules and electronic payments miss due dates, especially in light of the fact that international compliance doesn’t exist. (By the way, when the new dates go into effect in 2007, be ready to download a patch for your computer, or it’s going to show the wrong time for much of the year.)
Farmers, who are supposed to be benefiting from all this, have to wait for the sun to come up, whatever time of day that might be. They often find themselves working hours that aren’t quite in synch with the city clock.
In short, we can all find something to hate about it and common bonds like that help keep the nation strong.
One thing is certain – you can’t fight it. Ignore the dance of the hours and you’ll be either an hour early or an hour late to every appointment on your calendar and, generally speaking, your opinion on the matter won’t make for an effective excuse. However you feel about it, ultimately we have our federal government to thank for daylight saving time. Left up to individual choice, the situation would be even more chaotic than it already is and, to that extent, a nationwide synchronization of watches makes sense. After all, Congress, known for it's thrift for almost 231 years, is just helping us save a little daylight – and that’s hardly worth losing any sleep over.
