As I crawl out of bed, disoriented, I quickly notice how unusually dark my room is this morning. I look at my alarm clock, only to find I slept in an hour and now am late for the day’s activities.
Although I have been awake less than an hour, daylight saving time (DST) has already ruined my day. Every day for six months up until this moment, I have, like many others, gotten up at my appointed time. Then, suddenly, DST arrives, and my whole morning rhythm and routine is disrupted by a one-hour shift of the clock.
DST is the government-mandated practice of setting all clocks back an hour on the second Sunday in March, or forward an hour on the first Sunday in November. When DST occurs in the spring, it is called “spring forward,” and when it occurs in the fall, it is called “fall back.” Despite the overall positive connotation of these words, they actually foreshadow chaos.
During World War I, the government ordered this resetting of the clocks to save energy. Some employ this same, outdated argument of energy conservation today to continue supporting DST.
In modern times, we produce more artificial light through screens or light bulbs. During DST, when it becomes dark and people are still awake, like in the early morning and evening, they need to use more of this artificial light, which actually results in more energy consumption.
In addition to increased energy usage, there are many more reasons that DST is harmful. For one, student sleep schedules are already messed up. Changing the time of day, even by just an hour twice a year, can have detrimental effects on sleep for weeks.
A study conducted by the National Library of Medicine found that with “spring forward,” for example, high school students’ sleep duration declined by an average of 32 minutes compared to the preceding week before DST.
DST also makes roads hazardous because it is so dark in the morning when students need to go to school and adults need to go to work. For example, on the darkest day of the year in 2024, which was Dec. 21, the sun did not rise until 7:39 a.m. But, Longfellow Middle School did not start until 7:30 a.m., meaning many children had to walk to school in the dark.
This leads to dangerous road conditions as cars have difficulty seeing these small children walking in the dark. According to research published in Current Biology, car accidents increase by 6% in the week following “spring forward.”
By discontinuing DST, these accidents could be prevented, as drivers would be more well-rested and have better vision because it would not be so dark out in the morning during winter.
Another problem with DST is the confusion it causes. Although most of the United States follows DST, Hawaii and most of Arizona do not. In addition, while more than 60 countries use DST, many do not, such as China, Japan and most of Africa. These global differences lead to confusion in travel plans and meeting times, as people have to constantly adjust to changing time differences.
Most supporters of DST say that because it is lighter later during spring forward, companies can get more business during those later hours. However, this argument is primarily used by corporations out of their own self interest.
While it could be argued that DST is beneficial, the reality is that it does more harm than good. The U.S government needs to stop this outdated and obsolete system that harms people, especially students.
