Chapter Ten - Daylight Saving: The Dumbest Good Idea

CHAPTER TEN

Daylight Saving: The Dumbest Good Idea

FIRST THINGS FIRST:
It’s Daylight Saving Time — no “s” at the end.
But if you’ve been saying “savings,” don’t worry. So has everyone else.

Because none of this makes sense anyway.

The idea seems simple enough:
Shift the clock forward in spring so we get more sunlight in the evening.
Shift it back in fall. Profit.

But who actually thought this was a good idea?

The myth says it was Benjamin Franklin, who joked in a satirical essay that people should wake up earlier to save candles. He wasn’t serious — he was making fun of Parisians for being lazy.

But the actual push for Daylight Saving came centuries later.
And it wasn’t about candles.
It was about coal.
And war.

During World War I, Germany became the first country to officially adopt Daylight Saving Time to conserve energy. Less need for artificial light meant more fuel for the war effort. Britain followed. Then the U.S.

It came back again in World War II.
Then vanished.
Then came back.
Then states started doing their own thing.
Then Congress said, “Fine, let’s make it official.”

In 1966, the Uniform Time Act was passed, trying to make DST consistent across the U.S. But states could still opt out — and some did.

Arizona said “nah.”
Hawaii said “nah.”
Indiana couldn’t decide for a while.

So what’s the point?

Proponents say it saves energy.
Studies say… ehh. Maybe a little. Maybe not.

It’s been blamed for:

• Increased heart attacks
• More car crashes
• Lower productivity
• Sleep disorders
• And cows getting confused during milking

Every time we change the clocks, millions of people feel jetlagged, for no real reason. You lose an hour in spring and gain it back in fall — like a sleep-debt Ponzi scheme.

People hate it.
Farmers hate it.
Doctors hate it.
Even politicians are starting to question why it still exists.

So why is it still here?

Because it’s baked into everything.
Because inertia is stronger than logic.
Because once a time system takes hold, it’s hard to kill — no matter how dumb it is.

Daylight Saving is a perfect symbol of our relationship with time:
We know it’s broken.
We know it hurts us.
But we’re too far in to stop.

So we keep springing forward and falling back.
Every year.
Like time is something we can shift with a calendar entry.

But if you think this is dumb…

Just wait until we try to make a second perfect — and realize not even that is what it seems.