8 Reasons To Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent

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Out of nowhere, the Senate did something that most people can agree on: It voted to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, and finally do away with the twice-annual tradition of changing our clocks.

I am thrilled by this — not just because changing the clocks is stupid, but because this is exactly the kind of thinking we need more of.

I call it “reconsider the impossible.”

Let’s discuss why it’s important.

Over the past few years, I have seen entrepreneurs transform their lives and businesses for the better. Oftentimes, they did that by being forced out of their comfort zone. They once had a set of ideas that made sense to them, and that they believed were the correct ideas, and they had discarded anything that seemed too difficult, complicated, or just plain stupid.

Then the pandemic came along, and the ideas they once treasured no longer worked. They had to look for new ideas — serving new customers, or old customers in new ways, or just doing something totally wild and fresh. These ideas expanded their careers in lives in powerful ways.

And here’s the craziest part: It's not like these entrepreneurs came up with radical ideas that nobody had ever thought of before! It's not like their new ideas were brought forth with supernatural powers! These were the ideas that had once been discarded — ideas that once seemed too difficult, complicated, or just plain stupid to try.

When people are forced to reconsider the impossible, they discover that they knew a lot less than they once thought they did.

So here we are, now doing this on a national scale. Why do we change the clocks twice a year? Because that’s the way it’s always been done — the worst possible reason to do anything. Changing clocks is “only a source of annoyance and confusion,” says Senator Marco Rubio, and he’s right.

Obviously, this bill still has a long way to go: It must pass the House and then, if it does, get Biden’s signature. There’s no telling if any of that will happen. But I am encouraged. And I'll be honest: I don't really care if we end up permanently on standard time or daylight saving time; I'm just happy we're having a conversation about picking a time and sticking with it, rather than changing the clocks twice a year.

We can do this. We must do this. It’s time to prove to ourselves — in a big way! — that there is simply no good reason to do something just because we’ve been doing it for so long, especially when the best ideas are within our reach.

Need more reasons? Here are eight.

1. There is literally no good reason not to

The whole reason Daylight Saving was adopted in the first place (in 1918!) was to save energy by adding extra daylight hours in the summer so people could use less artificial light. According to some studies, changing the clocks actually doesn’t save any energy. Others say it actually increases our energy use.

2. It keeps us sharp

Losing an hour of sleep every spring leaves a lot of people groggy for days or weeks following. It’s like jetlag, but without traveling. That affects us individually, of course — people spend more time cyberloafing after losing sleep, for example — and on an economic level, the resulting lost productivity can amount to $434 million in losses annually, by some estimates.

3. It avoids injury

A 2009 study found a 5.7% increase in workplace injuries on the Monday after the spring-forward switch, which also led to 68% more workdays lost. The week after the time change sees a 6% increase in fatal car crashes. It feels absolutely ridiculous not to avoid these injuries when we know we can.

4. It improves mental health

Dark winter afternoons are miserable — literally. The reduced light exposure can *worsen* seasonal affective disorder. Why would we opt in to this???

5. It avoids confusion

Arizona, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico keep the same time all year (though, yes, it is standard time, not daylight savings time). What’s it like living in this logical paradise? I asked my social media followers, and got some great answers. Javi Miller-Estrada, who lives in Arizona, told me that “coordinating across time zones becomes difficult, and then when you finally get used to it, BOOM it switches back.” When the clocks change, his schedule literally explodes. This is crazy! We are punishing people for doing the sensible thing!

6. We will sleep like kings and queens

Grant Henry, also from Arizona, told me, “I can say unequivocally that not having to ever change time is one of the greatest things about living in AZ. You can go 365 days without ever changing your clock except when the power goes out at your house or the battery on your watch dies… For 2 days out of the year we in AZ sleep like kings and queens, while everyone else panics.”

7. We’ll gain a sense of normalcy

“Strangely enough, it hardly feels noticeable at all,” Puerto Rico resident Chris Mahlmann tells me. “You’re living day by day and nothing is changing drastically because you don’t move the clocks by an hour.” Doesn’t that sound wonderful? Don’t we all deserve this?

8. Most people don’t like turning back clocks

And lots of other states have already moved to do away with the practice. More than 20 states already have legislation underway to keep the same timing all year — but they can’t do it without federal support. The law passed by the Senate, called The Sunlight Protection Act, would do just that.

I ran a survey about this on LinkedIn, and look at the results!

It's hard to get that much of a consensus on anything.

When you lay it out like this, it’s kind of baffling that we’ve dealt with the changing clock for so long. Look at what happens when we do not reconsider the impossible! We are stuck with the terrible, terrible possible. We only harm ourselves.

Suddenly, our legislators are starting to agree. It makes you wonder: What else deserves a fresh look?

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Cover credit: Getty Images / Bix Burkhart