The Jarring Interruption That May Never End

Why do we observe Daylight Savings? What purpose does it serve? Will it ever end?

The answer: who knows.

Daylight Savings was conceived of independently by some guys who wanted to make the world a better place. One wanted people to spend more time in the sunshine. One wanted to save coal. But the guy credited with the idea (Hudson c. 1895) simply wanted more time after his shift to look at bugs. The assertion it was created so farmers could load the trains with their harvest on time is an urban legend. Fact is farmers hate it for the very same reason most of us hate it: it forces us to change our schedule. Fact is farmers schedule their time around the sun and trains still run according to the needs of those using them, including farmers. The reason we endure this sudden time-sift is purely the politics of big business.

England proposed this at the turn of the nineteen century because some rich guy felt his country was wasting time. Early to bed, early to rise? This all goes back to the forgotten reality of second sleep. Once we had lighting in our homes and factory jobs to attend, industry saw a way to further their bottom line: change the healthy way we'd slept throughout all of history and get us to work on time. They needed productive people making money, not sleeping people wasting daylight (their profits).

Before this, we'd go to bed with the sun, wake sometime during the night and bumble about. Then we'd go back to bed for a second sleep and rise with the sun. Electric lightning means we can stay up all night and thick curtains mean we can sleep all day. By the end of the nineteenth century, it was considered immoral, lazy, and of low character to sleep in. However long it takes to end Daylight Savings, let us be sure to end this illogical presumption about sleep now. The people we need to worry about are not the ones with a full night's sleep. In fact, sleep requires a certain state of mind. What we need to worry about is the cost of sleep-deprivation.

Ending second sleep was just the beginning. For countries far enough from the equator to experience great swings in sunrise and sunset, Daylight Savings has become a tool to readjust daylight in order to increase productivity. There are various arguments in favor. It saves energy. It reduces crime. It keeps kids safe, walking to school or riding the bus. It allows for more activity outside during summer months. Only this last point is valid. It hasn't saved money. The accidents avoided in fall occur in spring. Crime only slightly reshuffles but doesn't change. And yes, people are allowed to spend an extra hour at the park before it gets dark. However in the Internet age, this option is being exercised less often. Daylight Savings will never end as long as it is linked to children and energy.

Standard Time is the winter part of the calender. Ending this pointless interruption means it will be light at a time most of us are not awake. That is the great cost of this; we would have a 5 AM summer sunrise. It would be weird, hard to get used to. But at most, it would be no more annoying than having a 5 PM winter sunset. The secondary cost would be fewer hours of summer sun in the evening but that seems to matter to less and less.

On the other hand, the benefits to ending it would be many. One stands out: better sleep. Sleep is the most important thing we do for our health and learning followed only by diet and exercise. Sleep erases stress, heals injury, solves sickness, entertains us with sometimes odd, sometimes awesome stories, changes our perspective, and allows us to take on the day. Having to readjust our sleep schedule twice a year costs real money and lives. It's the interruption to our Circadian Rhythm that is the problem. The reason for the increasing number of accidents in spring is more about the lack of sleep than the lack of light.

There are two types of chronology: synchronous and asynchronous. Time is synchronous. Life is asynchronous. Time is segments. Life is events. Synchronous means getting to work at 7 AM. Asynchronous means getting to work when you are ready. The world runs on synchronous time. But with computers and networking, it is possible to overcome these shackles and use tech to overlay an asynchronous life onto the synchronous bed of time. Instead of getting to work at 7 AM, one day we'll have an app to get us there when we are ready and needed. Ending Daylight Savings is the first step to a healthier, more efficient world.