Changing Clocks Is Annoying. The Alternatives Are Too.
Polls clearly indicate that Americans want to stop changing clocks twice a year, but they are less clear on the question of which time system to go with year-round. A bit of history should clear up any uncertainty, though. In 1974, the U.S. temporarily switched to year-round DST in an attempt to save fuel during an energy crisis. Americans supported the plan before it was in place but immediately soured on it after the first winter. “They didn’t like getting up in the dark, going to work in the dark, and sending their kids to school in the dark,” David Prerau, the author of Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time, told me. “We’ve tried it. It’s not [something] we have to guess about.” Congress repealed the measure later that year, so if the U.S. is trying to pick a more popular time system, the Senate’s choice to repeat history with permanent DST is a questionable one.
Polls clearly indicate that Americans want to stop changing clocks twice a year, but they are less clear on the question of which time system to go with year-round. A bit of history should clear up any uncertainty, though. In 1974, the U.S. temporarily switched to year-round DST in an attempt to save fuel during an energy crisis. Americans supported the plan before it was in place but immediately soured on it after the first winter. “They didn’t like getting up in the dark, going to work in the dark, and sending their kids to school in the dark,” David Prerau, the author of Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time, told me. “We’ve tried it. It’s not [something] we have to guess about.” Congress repealed the measure later that year, so if the U.S. is trying to pick a more popular time system, the Senate’s choice to repeat history with permanent DST is a questionable one.
