Each year, near the start of spring, we set our clocks ahead and effectively “lose” an hour to make room for Daylight Savings. However, few people actually know the history of this annual event. In truth, Daylight Savings is not actually that old. In fact, it only dates back around 250 years to the days of Benjamin Franklin.
Benjamin Franklin conceived of Daylight Savings back in 1784 during a visit to Paris. It was at this time that he wrote his essay An Economical Project, in which he discussed the benefits of using natural light instead of lamps or candles. Based on his calculations, Franklin estimated that the city of Paris alone wasted 96,075,000 livre tournois every year on extra candles. To him, this was “an immense sum” that thrifty Franklin saw as unnecessary and wasteful.
The Modern Adoption of Daylight Savings Time
While Franklin’s idea was not immediately embraced, his idea ultimately helped shape our current Daylight Savings policy, which was indeed designed to reduce our dependence on artificial lighting and reduce other energy costs. The institution of this time change began in the aftermath of World War I. Europe was the first region to adopt time-changing regulations, as they struggled to recover from the war and cut costs. Then, in 1918, the United States passed its own regulations.
Unfortunately, many Americans hated the new policy, and it was vetoed by President Wilson after a mere seven months. However, a few states chose to keep the time change as a local policy. This continued until World War II, when President Roosevelt declared “War Time” as an official regulation from 1942 to 1945. However, after the war, time changing again became optional. Obviously, having different parts of the country on different time systems caused some confusion. However, the system remained unchanged for decades until the first uniform law was attempted in 1966. Regulation continued to be changed and amended until the current system was adopted in the 1980s.
An Overview of the Changes
In the United States, Daylight Savings begins the second Sunday in March at 2:00AM and continues until the first Sunday in November. At the start of Daylight Savings, the clocks jump from 1:59AM to 3:00AM. Interestingly, Hawaii is the only U.S. state to not partake in Daylight Savings. Additionally, Indiana only recently unified its Daylight Savings system throughout the state. In the past, some counties would change their clocks while others chose not to.
Time Change Around the World
Other nations have adopted their own time changing systems. In fact, the first modern time changes were actually instituted in post-WWI Europe. Today, the European Union adheres to “Summer Time,” which begins the last Sunday in March and runs through the last Sunday in October. Like Daylight Savings, Summer Time is when people set their clocks backwards one hour. However, Summer Time does not directly coincide with Daylight Savings in the United States. Consequently, time variants between nations do not stay uniform year-round.
Some nations have decided to ignore Daylight Savings entirely. Most of those that have not adopted the system are considered non-industrialized nations. However, even big commercial centers like Japan and China have neglected the time change. Other notable nations with no Daylight Saving plan include Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, and India. Additionally, in some nations, like Australia, part of the country sets the clocks ahead while the rest chooses not to. This, naturally, can lead to some confusion.
The Purpose of Daylight Savings
Daylight Savings was created to make better use of the hours the sun is up. It basically gives us more “day time” in the latter hours by giving us an extra hour before the sun sets in the evening. By effectively moving daylight to the evening, most people reduce their dependence on artificial lighting, air cooling, and transportation. How does this work? Studies done in the 1970s showed that people are more active in the evenings than in the mornings. By adding daylight to this period, they were more likely to stay outdoors, walk or bike for transportation, and leave indoor light shut off.
In recent decades, there have been no substantial studies on the usefulness of Daylight Savings. However, new research is currently underway, and this will likely cause a reevaluation of the time-change system. In the meantime, we continue to change our clocks, which still causes some interesting dilemmas. For some accounts of how Daylight Savings has caused confusion, you can read this article .
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