I awoke today like many Sundays, late in the morning. The kids knocking on the door demanding we get up and make them some pancakes. After a few minutes of waking up pulled myself out of the most comfortable bed I have ever had. I toss on some cloths and made some coffee. While Bridget made breakfast for the kids, I logged on to the laptop to find via news channels and my old standby, Facebook, that we Sprang Forward in time.
I have never really paid much attention to Day Light Savings or seemed to be that effected by it. This past fall when we rolled our clocks back an hour it was very disruptive to the family’s sleep cycle. Of course, as we grumbled and gripped about the time change we tried to reason with the construct of add daylight to our evening. But the reality is we could not see how the supposed benefits to the economy made the disruption in our sleep cycle worth it. On top of our complaints Facebook and other social platforms are a buzz with complaints. So what gives?
According to the great Wikipedia, “Adding daylight to afternoons benefits retailing, sports, and other activities that exploit sunlight after working hours,[3] but causes problems for farming, evening entertainment and other occupations tied to the sun.[4][5] Traffic fatalities are reduced when there is extra afternoon daylight;[6] its effect on health and crime is less clear. Although an early goal of DST was to reduce evening usage of incandescent lighting, formerly a primary use of electricity,[7] modern heating and cooling usage patterns differ greatly, and research about how DST currently affects energy use is limited and often contradictory.”
I think the whole concept is hooey. I like to wake up when the sun comes up and then go to bed when I am tired. Other than meetings with clients what time it is does not really mean much to me. Sure there is picking up the kids from school, getting them to scouts, catching the bus, and other stuff like that. But do these day to day activities requiring us to be slaves to the clock demand Day Light Savings Time?
All of my clocks change automatically. Other than my stove clock I don’t need to change anything when we jump forward or fall back. So the whole changing my clocks is no longer the issue as it was as a child before we had digital clocks that automatically updated. But I do see the artificial change in time is ridiculous. More and more countries are deciding they don’t need to manipulate time to boost the economy or reduce energy consumption.
If we really want to boost the economy and reduce energy consumption we need to focus on real tangible solutions. Day Light Savings Time is not a jobs program or the Green Economy.
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