Daylight savings time ends this Sunday at 1:59 a.m., which begs the question: should Daylight Savings Time be permanent? The clocks fall back one hour to standard time, giving us an extra hour of sleep. However, it will get darker an hour earlier.
The old tale of Daylight Savings Time is that it is for the farmers and their harvests, but according to The Farmer’s Almanac, this is not true. Daylight Savings Time did not become a regular thing until 1966 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it into law. According to the Almanac, Daylight Savings Time was used as early as 1918 but suspended during World War II for fuel conservation purposes. In 1970, Richard Nixon also halted DST during the oil shortage.
One of the main arguments for making Daylight Savings Time permanent in the United States is the lack of sunlight for four months. In some northern states, the sun sets before 5 p.m., making for very short days. There are clear links between the lack of sunlight and an increase in depression rates during winter months when the clocks rollback. Especially in a pandemic where tensions are already high, it makes sense to suspend implementation of the fallback and stay on the current timeline we are on. While there is less sunlight as it gets later into the year, having that extra hour of daylight during the day could make all the difference in the world.
J.P Morgan Chase reports that when the clocks fall back, consumer spending drops an estimated 3.5 percent, causing a noticeable dip in the economy.
The arguments for keeping Daylight Savings Time permanent makes sense. Soon, we could be living in an America where we do not have to change our clocks because time stays the same. That would benefit everybody to keep a uniformed time. With Hawaii and Arizona already not participating in it, 32 states have filed legislation to follow suit and make DST permanent.
We hope this information on Should Daylight Savings Time be Permanent? is helpful to you.
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Jeffrey is a graduate from the University of North Texas and joined the Empower Brokerage marketing team in 2020. He is the social media manager for empower brokerage, in addition to writing blogs and doing various campaigns. LinkedIn profile
