Why do we have Daylight Saving Time in the first place!?

Many people regurgitate myths about school-bus safety or the need for additional daylight for farming during the summer months. But both of these are wrong.
The actual reason we manipulate our clocks twice a year is more antiquated and nonsensical than many people realize.

But hear me out — we should make DST the standard moving forward. As in: “spring forward and never fall back.”

Walk with me here and I’ll explain.

The United States first adopted Daylight Saving Time in 1918 under the Standard Time Act. The idea was implemented to optimize America’s energy efficiency during World War I.

DST was repealed after World War I, brought back during World War II, and then standardized nationwide with the Uniform Time Act of 1966.

But what we really want to know is WHY?

I need a pretty good reason that the state of Kentucky is pitch black at 5 p.m. in January.

It all started in 1895, when some goofy scientist in New Zealand proposed shifting everybody’s clocks so he would have more daylight to collect insects after work.

And it gets even crazier. The original proposal was actually for a two-hour shift, not just one.

So that’s where the idea of manipulating our clocks in exchange for more daylight actually started.
America would later adopt the DST concept in an attempt to conserve wartime energy. “Longer days” meant more light; more light meant more work. More natural light also equated to less energy consumption.

But this wasn’t federal policy as of yet, so states just followed suit and started making up random rules for their own clocks.

  • In Indiana, some counties adopted DST and others didn’t.
  • Some American towns set clocks 15 or 20 minutes off from the official time to match local sunrise or business schedules.
  • Detroit was once 20 minutes different from neighboring cities.
  • Maine did whatever they wanted. It was wild.

These are just a few shining examples, but as you can imagine, this created a logistical nightmare for American travel and business.

To remedy the chaos, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966 to standardize when DST begins and ends nationwide. This solved coordination issues pertaining to transportation, broadcasting, and business.

However, states are currently allowed to opt out if they choose. Arizona and Hawaii do not adhere to the DST switch.

Arizona opted out because it is situated in the Sonoran Desert. More daylight means more heat. More heat means more A/C.

Hawaii opted out entirely because the islands are so close to the equator that DST would have little to no practical effect.

In summary, that’s why we spring forward and fall back: wartime energy conservation and longer production hours for wartime necessities. It’s 2026 and that’s just nonsensical to me.

So what’s really happening when we spring forward and fall back?

Sleep schedules aside, when we “fall back,” we are returning to standard time. When we “spring forward,” we are stealing an hour of daylight from the morning and adding it to the end of the day.

My question is: What do the numbers on my watch have to do with when the sun rises and sets, or when I turn the lamp on my nightstand on and off?

It makes no sense to me.

I’m sure someone out there can explain why DST is such a great idea and makes all the sense in the world, but I don’t get it.

That being said, when we “spring forward” next time, we should never “fall back.”
Let me break this down for you. I’m in central Kentucky, so I’ll use my own geographical experience:
We are currently approaching fall-back mode.
  • The sun will rise at 7:30 a.m.
  • The sun will set at 5:00 p.m.

At 5:00 p.m., the sun is setting in the all-too-familiar “holy shit, it feels like midnight” cycle. It’s just sad and depressing.

When we spring forward:

  • The sun will rise at 6:30 a.m.
  • The sun will set at 9:05 p.m.

Awesome. We get to swim longer, play harder, do yard work, enjoy our parks, etc.

Now, if we decided NOT to “fall back” on the first Sunday in November:

  • The sun would rise at 8:30 a.m.
  • The sun would set at 6:00 p.m.

Call me crazy, but I would much rather have a darker morning in exchange for a brighter evening.

’Falling back’ makes life sad and monotonous.

Let’s spring forward and just fucking stay there.
This is my rant — and admittedly, everything about it is as stupid as the concept of Daylight Saving Time.
Every bit of this was difficult to put into words.
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