Turning forward the Ohio Clock in 1918 – photo courtesy of Wikipedia
We fall back today – you know what I mean by that. It is the only way many of us can remember whether to turn the clocks ahead or backward.
And I for one, wish we would just pick a time and stick to it. Arizona doesn’t play spin the clock hands, nor does Hawaii, so why do the rest of us?
Some credit – or blame – Ben Franklin, but I think he just wanted to advocate his philosophy of “early to bed, and early to rise”. And in the seventeen hundreds, there weren’t good lighting options. So let’s give ole Ben a pass on this one.
It wasn’t until the early nineteen hundreds that William Willett, a British builder and golfer, decided to advance his clock in the summer to allow more time for golfing at the end of the work day. He lobbied for his solution to be adopted in the UK.
During the first World War, Germany adopted the practice as a means of conserving coal. And by 1918 Americans were in on it.
Can we revisit the early nineteen hundreds’ lifestyle in America for a few moments?
Coal was the main source of energy, Prohibition was getting fired up, commercial flight was just getting off the ground but wouldn’t become viable for another decade, most farmers still used horses and mules, the hot car was the Ford Model T and very few Americans owned one, the primary travel source was by train, movies were still silent, most Americans didn’t have telephones – at all, the Postal Service was the speediest means of transporting communications, refrigeration was still primarily done with cooling springs and ice blocks, and women wore floor length dresses and aspired to be a wife and mother – solely – they didn’t even get the right to vote until 1920. Television didn’t exist yet, of course computers didn’t, and nobody could even envision Elvis Presley, the Beatles, hippies, nuclear war, fast food restaurants or Disney World.
I have taken you back to the dark ages to remind you why there may have been need of saving daylight nearly a century ago. But why on earth do we still follow this craziness in the modern world?
Ask any forty-something woman how well she sleeps and you’ll find a scary commentary on the necessity of maintaining a rhythm to her pattern. Now, twice a year, we have to readjust and about the time we get it right, it changes again.
I don’t care which time we adopt. I’d just like to advocate choosing one and sticking with it. Call me the Scrooge of Daylight Savings Time, but I think we can find something better to save, like scraps of tin foil.
Until my rant on time shifting becomes a movement, I am forced to cooperate. So I’ll set my clock back and revisit this as my platform sometime around April or March, depending on when our nation wants to spring ahead next. Even that is a fluctuating concept. I bet we drive other countries nuts with our random time changing.
Let’s start a movement and stop the antiquated notion of changing time.
“Time and tide waits for no man,” – St. Marher in 1225.
P.S. A movement is already underway for all of these reasons. I think I like this guy!
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I couldn’t agree more, Renee! Growing up in SK, we didn’t change our clocks and were basically on Central time all the time. I have lived in regions that change times for 25+ years now and I’ve never really adjusted. This week I’ll have Play-Dough for brains, the first few days at least.
Great post & very informative to boot 🙂 MJ
Thank you MJ. It’s good to hear from the point of view of someone who hasn’t always been effected by it. And speaking from the point of view of someone who now has brain fog a lot of the time – back to the forty-something condition for women – I really don’t need another reason. Maybe we can do as Winsomebella suggests and form a group in unity of a single time frame!
I agree. It’s annoying, and throws everyone off. Especially in the spring. However I would like to thank you again for this trip down memory lane and a simpler time. Yes, I know things are easier now technology wise, but if you think of the simplicity of life back then it makes one nostalgic for the days when people knew exactly what they would do with their lives and the trap of modern day running till you drop at night over needless waste of time and the constant hunt for entertainment, was unheard of. Nicely done as always.
Thank you Melynda. Once I realized the reason for it and the year it began for the USA, I thought it might help us put it all in perspective. We’re not living by the 1918 standards anymore. Do we really need to hang onto to this? Maybe we could keep the DST and go back to living more simply. What do you think of that idea? I have a horse already – just saying! LOL!
Another nice post! Few days earlier i was gathering information about day light saving time, as it was required for a part related to my job. I never thought you are going to post this one, few days later. Still nice to know about it in detail. Day by day you are making us intelligent by your informative posts. So great job!
Arindam, your comments always make me smile and they make me feel appreciated. I’m so glad you enjoyed this.
Great post, but the only reason I don’t take up a banner against daylight saving time this time of year is because once upon a time way back in the early 70’s or maybe late 60’s our state decided to buck the odds and not do daylights saving time. Within a short time that fall, a couple of children were ran over in the darkness of the early morning. I recall one was a little girl. I can’t recall the details as such, but I remember that our state changed to daylight savings time. I doubt they ever buck the odds again. And for this reason, I think the daylight savings time for this time of year is a good thing.
Now as far as stopping Springing forward in the Spring, give me a banner and I’ll march along with you. 😉
I have no preference as to which time to choose – definitely don’t want kids in any danger. And since we’ve up the start of DST to March in most places and extending it into November, why not just keep it all year?
This is my least favorite time of the year. Somehow coming home i the dark really bothers me. i find that since I quit working, I’m not hit as hard with the “darkness dread”, but I still don’t like it. I need light in my life! And seeing it get dark at 4:30 PM is a bummer!
And it hits us right when the holiday shopping is beginning – that time when we are all too late scoping the malls and trying to find our cars in dark lots.
It is an idea whose time (ha) has passed. I think we should stick with the summer version. Plus, changing all the clocks in the house, car, etc. can get pretty darn annoying!
I’m so glad to hear from a man on this one. You too are annoyed with the concept! Yes!
I totally agree with you, Renee! I don’t like this time of year. It psychologically plays havoc with me. It’s depressing to think that tonight it will get dark so early! Love a little of the history behind this backward motion.
Annie, I’m glad you agree. We don’t stick with the other archaic routines, why are we bound and tied to this one? Yikes!
I’m happy to be back on standard time at this time of year. It’s always dark when I go to bed, but I hate getting up in the dark. When daylight time extends later into fall, little children are waiting for buses in the dark, at the mercy of sleepy drivers who are inattentively drinking their second cup of coffee, and women walking from the free parking spots in the city are assaulted on their way into work as they briskly walk their dark spooky routes. Been there, done that on these things and would hate year around daylight time. My switch today was seamless. (It’s a mystery to me how my ancient VCR and low tech DVR knew it was this weekend to change on their own. I don’t remember that happening before.) I also don’t get the concept that DST somehow “saves” daylight. I don’t think the sun notices our little earthbound machinations. (It seems we all have an opinion!)
When we travelled out west this summer, one of the telephones we have kept changing with the time zones. I was impressed to say the least. Apprarently your VCR and DVR got that same technology. And for most areas, don’t we naturally get longer days in the summer anyway?
This year my phone popped to standard time exactly when it hit 2 a.m. Previously I had to shake it and swear at it a little. Perhaps there’s a better signal in my neighborhood now.
I think you are on to something here…..women of a certain age should unite, say 3 am, some night.
What a coincidence. Three am is my time too! Of course, is that now two or four am?
My understanding is that Daylight Savings saves lives. (I’m not caught in rush hour traffic, so I’d rather not fall and spring.) One purpose is to keep the majority of drivers out of the dark as long as possible. Robin
Then why turn it back? Let’s leave it as is!
Found on CA gov site:
1) Daylight Saving Time saves energy. Based on consumption figures for 1974 and 1975, The Department of Transportation says observing Daylight Saving Time in March and April saved the equivalent in energy of 10,000 barrels of oil each day — a total of 600,000 barrels in each of those two years.
2) Daylight Saving Time saves lives and prevents traffic injuries. The earlier Daylight Saving Time allowed more people to travel home from work and school in daylight, which is much safer than darkness. And except for the months of November through February, Daylight Saving Time does not increase the morning hazard for those going to school and work.
3) Daylight Saving Time prevents crime. Because people get home from work and school and complete more errands and chores in daylight, Daylight Saving Time also seems to reduce people’s exposure to various crimes, which are more common in darkness than in light.
AMEN! I think the time change thing has long wore out its welcome. Imagine the summers in the north especially…light till 11pm! Cool.
Ah yes – I’m imagining and it’s wonderful!
Renee, I am afraid I am so past it all (any moment now heading for SAD – Seasonal Affection Disorder aka Christmas) it’s all the same to me. Fog? Call me Misty.
However you do have a point (more than one actually), and please do sign me up as member in the fight against clock’s pendulum being swung.
Forget 40+ year olds – like Winsome Bella we are all awake at three o’clock at night reflecting, in wonderment and awe, on life’s vagaries. It’s animals and children who are put out by this time saving lark because they will tick on how their original clock was set. A cow is only interested to be milked when her udder is full and (by association) a baby couldn’t care less what time it is when its tiny stomach needs to be topped up.
I currently don’t keep chickens and my son is 20 – so there is little clucking till midday. Daylight saving indeed.
U
This could be a worldwide movement. I love your wit Ursula! Thanks for visiting and I hope you’ll stop by again.
I couldn’t agree more!
I’ll count you in on the group! Thanks!
I’m with you on that. It’s inconvenient to get those clocks in high places. As easy as it is for me to change it in my car, I don’t bother.
I didn’t know Arizona stuck with the same time year around. They do a lot of things differently there. .
If Arizona can survive without DST, I’d hate to think the rest of us couldn’t.
If Arizona can survive without DST, I’d hate to think the rest of us couldn’t.
I have a bunch of mixed minds on this one. Overall, I’d agree with you. There is no reason for the changes. My sleep is a quixotic thing, and I’m not so sure that the changes make a whole bunch of difference to my insomniac-prone body. I do relish the one hour “extra” of sleep in the fall, but then I absolutely hate the shorter days–with sun going down so “early”. It’s 7:00 p.m. right now and it shouldn’t be dark already! In the spring I have a hard time with the “loss” of an hour, but I do love the longer days. The sun should always set at 8:30 or 9:00 as it does in the summer! Thanks for musing on this subject and and, why not start a movement? I suspect you’d have lots of company!
To sleep is to dream…or something like that. Sometimes I just dream of sleeping.
Arizona doesn’t do it???!!! I never knew that! In the summer I certainly appreciate the longer sunny days – I wouldn’t mind sticking to that! 🙂
Thanks for weighing in Katherine.
I dont like turning the clock forward in spring, I always crave for “winter time” so I can turn back the clock for one hour 😀
Hi, thanks for visiting. Yes, the original time suits me best as well.
Fantastic. I had no idea of the origin of daylight savings, and oddly enough, never thought to look into it. But as soon as you said on your other post that this one tells its history I was definitely interested. Thank you for the write up – v interesting 🙂