Starting on the second Sunday of March and ending on the first Sunday in November, Daylight Savings is the practice of setting clocks forward to make use of the longer daylight available during summer so that darkness falls at a later time. Typically, clocks are set forward by one hour in spring and set back one hour in early fall, from which comes the phrase “spring forward and fall back.”

Daylight Savings has been around since 1918, when it was implemented through the Standard Time Act of 1918 to help conserve fuel and power and extend the workday. Working during sunlight hours meant burning less fuel and having the ability to work later into the day.

However, many people don’t see the point of daylight savings. Why set the clock back in November? Everyone loves the long summer days, but changing our clocks twice a year leads to hundreds of people being early or late to their morning activities, losing sleep, or complaining about having to change their many clocks. 

From dangerous driving to wasted money, people can accomplish less when their sleep schedule is thrown off. Drowsy drivers are a danger to the road, causing safety hazards due to mentally adjusting our days an hour. Additionally, when tired, humans will focus less and not accomplish as much, leading to a huge economic loss in millions of dollars by opportunity cost. 

Daylight savings time is old, outdated, and unnecessary. While the event was started to help during the World Wars, the need for more daylight in a workday is completely unnecessary in today’s day and age. When today’s work is primarily done inside and on a device, extended work days are pointless. After the change in March, the light and clocks should stay throughout the year, seeing as winter days are short and dark regardless.

The change in schedules, clocks, and lives could easily be removed, resulting in happier and more productive workers, which was the original point of Daylight Savings in the first place.