If I Were Dictator for a Day...

On Sunday, daylight savings ended in most of the United States, including the state where I live. Monday was the first regular workday following the time change, and I will be returning home in complete darkness, an abrupt shift from the previous workweek.

I don’t travel very often, but when I do, I find it difficult to adjust to a time zone change of two or three hours. One hour is less difficult, but I think most people accept changing time as part of the effort of traveling.

But when it comes to Daylight Saving Time, the majority of the country has no choice whatsoever. Essentially, shifting from standard time to daylight savings time and back again forces most Americans to shift time zones twice a year, as if they were moving from Chicago time to New York time and back, forcing their internal clocks to adjust to the change.

I imagine you are thinking, "What's the big deal? You take a couple days to get adjusted, and then you forget about it."

I think it’s obvious that in the spring, many people have trouble the first few days, probably feeling a little more sleepy and less alert than usual. Though I’ve never seen any studies, I strongly suspect there is a higher rate of traffic accidents and other such incidents during the first days after changing to daylight savings time.

I understand that supporters of daylight saving time argue that energy is saved during the summer because it doesn’t get dark until later, during hours when people are normally active. Lights don’t have to be turned on because the sun is still out. People can enjoy their outdoor activities for an extra hour.

And yet the sudden shift from twilight at 6 pm to complete darkness at 6 pm a few days later seems to me as going against our basic connection to nature and the earth, to have our schedules shifted so dramatically and unnaturally.

During college I spent one (fall) semester in Japan. I didn’t realize what had happened until I had returned to the states and went through the time shift the next year. But during that fall, I experienced the days getting shorter through September and October, the days and nights got colder gradually. And it was pleasant, and it seemed natural, that the seasons turned gradually, without the abrupt shift of a time change.

Ever since, I've dreaded the return of the time shifts twice a year. Most people probably just accept it. But if you live through a whole half-year in a country without daylight saving time, I'd imagine you would feel the way I do.