Daylight savings time started this weekend!
Why?
Because in 1895 New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson was outside collecting bugs. Yes, BUGS!
He wrote a proposal to shift the clocks in the winter to give everyone more sunlight, to collect MORE bugs.
The kicker? That’s not how physics works! Changing the clocks doesn’t actually give us more sunlight.
It wasn’t even used until 1916 when Germany put it in to practice. They weren’t collecting bugs, but wanting to save coal to feed the war machines.
They thought daylight savings time would conserve energy by urging people to stay out later and use less artificial lighting.
So Monday morning when you have to wake up an hour earlier, REMEMBER it’s because the Germans thought it would be a good idea!
But does it make sense now?
NOT REALLY.
This may have worked hundreds of years ago when there were no air conditioners.
Being outside sweating with bugs is a lot less appealing to most than being inside with electronics and climate-controlled temperatures, thus creating more energy use rather than reducing it.
Not to mention in this day and age some people sit up all night playing games and scrolling through Facebook. Using MORE energy.
And when you live in places like Arizona, Florida, and Texas, you don’t need more sunlight because winter doesn’t have negative effects on us.
So do we have to observe Daylight Savings Time?
NO! We do it because we’ve always done it, not because we have to.
The US is only 1 of 70 countries that observe it, which leaves a huge part of the world NOT doing it.
So the question is, is it worth the hassle of switching the clocks twice a year?
Probably not. Daylight Savings Time probably has more negative effects in 2018 than good:
It makes sleep deprivation worse, it causes a loss in productivity the week after the clocks change, there’s an increase in car accidents, and scheduling between countries becomes even MORE complicated.
So why do we still observe it?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.