Are you feeling energized after that extra hour of sleep?

How changing your clocks was more divisive than we were originally taught.

Today is the day we’ve come out of Daylight Savings Time and back into “normal” time. At least, most of us have (we see you, Arizona.)

We were wondering why that is, though we won’t complain about an extra hour of sleep. Why is it that for 6 or so months out of the year we get thrust forward into the future by one hour, just to be drawn back as the season turns towards winter? Turns out it’s a more modern reason than we were taught in school.

Starting at the beginning, Benjamin Franklin, who pretty much invented everything useful, wrote to the French press in 1784 about the novel concept that the sun comes up earlier and earlier each day heading into summer months. Though meant to be a dig at the laziness of the French for never having realized this because they had “never seen any signs of sunshine before noon,” it did spur on an idea to take advantage of the hours that the sun is up rather burning more candles and just dealing with it.[1]

Though nothing formally came from Franklin’s comments, over 100 years later, the concept was officially credited to a New Zealand entomologist named George Vernon Hudson. He became frustrated with how early the sun set during summer, giving him less time during prime bug catching season. When he approached the Scientific Society in New Zealand, they wrote off his proposal of resetting the clocks to take advantage of the sunlight as a pointless and complicated idea, but less than two decades later it was adopted for another purpose.[2]

During World War I, Germany saw the need to conserve coal for fuel and adopted the practice in an effort to use less energy. The U.K. and the U.S. soon followed suit. After the war was over, the farmers lobby was the most vocal about taking Daylight Savings Time off the table for good, contrary to popular belief. They made their case that less work was done due to the disruption of laborers who still paid attention to the clock rather than the sun, often cutting their days short and therefore decreasing productivity. To their dismay, it came back into effect in World War II for the same reason of once again conserving energy.[3]

After the war and beyond, chaos ensued in the U.S. as Congress allowed certain states and cities to choose if they would continue participating in Daylight Savings Time, failing to create a nationwide standardized time. This created confusion for travelers, broadcasters, and laborers since times could change by an hour in either direction based on where you traveled to. In fact, a journey from Steubenville, Ohio to Moundsville, West Virginia, a 40 mile drive, would give you seven different time changes.[4]

 In 1966, Congress finally corrected the problem and President Lyndon Johnson signed the Universal Time Act into law that standardized Daylight Savings Time to begin at the end of every April and end on the last Sunday of October. States were allowed to submit exemptions on the law, and only Hawaii and Arizona (excluding a pocket of the Navajo Nation) chose to exclude themselves from the law.[5] To this day, these two states still do not participate, so if you are sick of changing your clocks twice a year, maybe it’s time to consider relocating.

One of the first modern reasons for the concept was to reduce energy usage. As modern technology progressed, overall usage actually rose slightly with the use of screens, lights, heating, and air conditioning. Those who argue against the practice use this reasoning often – that it may have made more sense before the modern age of technology but now is a useless practice. Also, the change takes place at 2 a.m. because it is believed that most people will be asleep and not notice the change, and bars and restaurants will be closed by this time.[6]

Interestingly, it wasn’t until recently that the end Daylight Savings Time moved to the beginning of November. Lobbies of all kinds came to the defense of the practice, since more sunlight in the summer meant higher sales in baseball, golf, and other equipment related to outdoor activities that could happen with longer evening light. Retailers also had something to say because studies have proven that more daylight means more spending.[7]

Surprisingly, it was the candy industry that pushed for the extension of Daylight Savings Time because they adamantly believed that with the extra hour of light, more children and families would be willing to be outside trick-or-treating and therefore the industry would sell far more candy to accommodate the influx. According to one report, candy lobbyists in 1985 put small candy pumpkins on the chairs in the Senate to persuade them to make the change. Though the push did not initially work, a law extending Daylight Savings into November was finally passed in 2007, and the candy industry cheered.[8]

The ideas and policies surrounding Daylight Savings Time have changed about as many times as the clocks on our walls. There is a growing movement to end Daylight Savings Time, and you can even sign a petition if you feel strongly about avoiding the semiannual meltdown when changing the clock in your car. But after all that Congress went through to get the law to where it is today, we can’t imagine much will change. The affected industries are strong, and they aren’t wrong that more light at the end of the day means people are more likely to be out and about. Which doesn’t seem like a bad thing.

So, now you know a little bit more about how we got here, and why you have to change your clocks. We’re already looking forward to when we can change them back in spring. Until then, we hope you’re well rested!

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[1] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/did-benjamin-franklin-invent-daylight-savings-time-1232015/

[2] https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/88302/10-fascinating-facts-about-daylight-saving-time

[3] https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/88302/10-fascinating-facts-about-daylight-saving-time

[4] https://enddaylightsavingtime.org/the-complete-history-of-daylight-saving-time/

[5] https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/88302/10-fascinating-facts-about-daylight-saving-time

[6] https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/88302/10-fascinating-facts-about-daylight-saving-time

[7] https://www.vogue.com/article/daylight-saving-time-shopping

[8] https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/88302/10-fascinating-facts-about-daylight-saving-time