Point: Make standard time permanent

Daylight saving time has been one of the many irritations of modern life since at least World War II.

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Columnists

March 9, 2023 - 6:01 PM

Many people report struggles with daylight saving time. (Dreamstime/TNS)

Almost everyone hates springing forward and falling back every year. Moving clocks ahead one hour in March only to return them to their previous settings in November wastes time — literally.

No adjustments to clocks change the length of the day, which is determined by latitude (distance from the equator) and season of the year. Daylight saving time, which kicks in this year at 2 a.m. March 12, simply shifts an hour of sunshine from the beginning of the day to its end. “Saving” an hour of sunlight requires losing an hour of sleep in the spring, reclaimed in the fall when standard time — observed for a mere four months — resumes.

Daylight saving time has been one of the many irritations of modern life since at least World War II. It became a permanent irritant during the oil crisis of the early 1970s when President Richard Nixon signed legislation mandating that clocks be moved forward one hour on an early March Sunday morning to save energy.

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