How about more Daylight Savings Time, not less?
There's some suggestion that among the changes to be wrought by the coming president should be ending Daylight Savings Time. Among the reasons offered is that it doesn't save energy, it plays havoc with people's biological clocks, it's difficult for computer programmers to take into account, and it makes people late for church.
In my opinion, we don't need to cancel Daylight Savings Time. We need more of it.
What is DST, really? It's just an agreement that everybody moves their clocks all at once. And I've always liked that -- that instead of thinking that clock time is some kind of irresistible scientific law, it's malleable and fungible, and we can manipulate it when we choose to. Hey, we feel like a little more daylight on a summer evening -- so be it.
While the semi-annual clock resetting may be disruptive, a lot of people would miss those long golden evenings in the summer which, for children, are symbolic of the blessed school-free nature of summertime itself. Summer means we all agree that there are sometimes better things to do than be in school all day -- a mass agreement similar to the clock readjustment. Shall we call off all the rules for a season? Let's!
Now, I know that not everyone grows up in a place with Daylight Savings Time, and that not everyone has the summer off of school. Their loss.
I would like to propose something even more radical than pushing the clock in one direction once a year. I think we should have Weekend Savings Time. Let's do it every weekend.
Here's how it would work: On Saturday morning at 4:00 a.m., the clocks are all set back an hour. Suddenly it's 3:00 a.m. And everybody gets an extra hour of sleep. You wake up on Saturday well-rested, feeling like you have plenty of time to do your errands, have fun, or just loaf. Ballplayers who played extra-inning games on Friday night rise more refreshed.
On Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m., you take the hour away again by setting the clocks forward. Suddenly it's 7:00 p.m. And why not? What do you do on Sundays with that hour? Nothing, right? There's nothing on TV... Your weekend guests have left for home... You're going to fall asleep watching "60 Minutes" anyway, right? Go to bed at your usual time, you get a full night's sleep anyway.
I call upon the Obama administration to make this proposal a reality.
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Comments
Love all your ideas, especially, "save the weekend" one, but this is so not blonde proof! I am confused just reading your post and in all honesty, do not like DST at all! The early darkness reeks havoc with my time clock and the daylight pouring into my room so early is just plain annoying! Oh well, otherwise, really love my day light just the way it is.
Seriously, I like dark winter evenings. The darkness takes away guilt about not getting out and "doing stuff." I can cocoon at home all evening without feeling like I'm wasting part of the day.
Rated with a smile.
i hate the early darkness in winter, and i hate the sun waking me up.
I'm in the minority of folks that HATE daylight savings---always have , always will. In fact, it's quite the joke with my family and friends because I complain non-stop in the weeks leading up to and ---and they I complain (really grumble) for weeks and weeks and weeks after it. And everyone always says the same thing..."you are the ONLY one I know who feels like this."
On the other hand I LOVE the "Fall back" time change.
Did you read the article that in Sweden they've done a study finding that DST may increase the risk of heart attack?
I think the best thing we can do is pick a time...and stick to it.
Thanks for this post and the opportunity to dis DST. DidI mention that I don't like it much?
But NO spring-forward-fall-back for me, thankyouverymuch. I hate it so much. And not only does it not save any energy, it uses MORE according to the NYTimes...