Daylight savings is something that twice a year, everyone in the United States has to struggle with. We either “spring forward” or “fall back” based upon what time of year it is. Most people can attest that this is an annoyance. You may have fallen victim to arriving an hour late or an hour early for something because the clocks don't change themselves. And everyone knows the strange feeling of it being pitch black when you walk outside at 4 in the afternoon. This sends me into a crazy frenzy of not wanting to do anything because I feel like I should be going to bed at 7!
Many people don't know though why we have daylight savings time. Daylight savings was something that was used a long time ago when farmers relied on the sun to dictate their work day. The clocks would be changed so that when the farmers got up early to feed the animals or begin working, it would be light out. It was solely for their convenience. Now that there is modern technology such as lighting in barns, this is not a necessary thing that we should have to do twice a year for virtually no reason.
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Countries I have visited such as Iceland have gotten rid of the idea of daylight savings because they simply do not see the point in changing the clocks forwards or backwards anymore. This also makes travel to these countries very difficult. I remember this specifically when my family traveled to France when I was twelve years old. The time change is typically six hours between the East Coast and France, so that is what my parents had prepared my sister and I for. They were putting us to bed earlier and having us get up a little earlier so that the adjustment wouldn't be as bad. When we got there though, we found out the change was actually seven hours because the United States was observing daylight savings time at that point. While this was not a huge issue, it was an annoyance that made the trip a little less enjoyable.
Parents with young children or babies also can relate to how annoying the time change is. A child will either be tired super early or want to stay up an hour later, and same thing in the morning, they will either be up an hour early or an hour late.
My mom told me over the phone the other day that Bella, our twelve year old Wheaten Terrier, was standing at the door waiting to go to bed at 8 p.m. and subsequently, woke up at 5 a.m., an hour before she typically gets up.
The time change now has no relevance in our current day society and seems to just act as an annoyance to everyone. I personally have never come in contact with someone who enjoys those days where we lose sleep or have to remember to change every single clock in the house. It is a large change, but any change country wide is difficult at first. This one would finish just like all of the other laws that have been put in place. But for now, we will get to enjoy looking forward to the darkness that awaits us at four in the afternoon!
