Home Consumer Daylight Saving Time; 6 Things About “Springing Forward” (Video)

Daylight Saving Time; 6 Things About “Springing Forward” (Video)

daylight saving
First Daylight Saving Time US Senate Clock being changed 1918 (Wikipedia)

At 2 am on Sunday, March 12, we will push our clocks forward one hour to mark the start of daylight saving time. The change will push sunsets later into the evening hours, at the cost of temporarily disrupting the sleep of millions of Americans.

There’s a lot of confusion about daylight saving time.

The first thing to know: Yes, it begins in the spring, just as the increase in daylight hours starts to become noticeable.

Let’s sort it all out.

1) Why do we need to “save” daylight hours in the summer?

Daylight saving time in the US started as an energy conservation trick during World War I, and became a national standard in the 1960s. The idea is to shift the number of daylight hours we get into the evening. So if the sun sets at 8 pm instead of 7 pm, we’d presumably spend less time with the lights on in our homes at night, saving on electricity.

It also means that you’re less likely to sleep through daylight hours in the morning (since those are shifted an hour later too). Hence “saving” daylight hours for the most productive time of the day.

Overall: We agree, the name is kind of confusing

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