How Daylight Savings Became A Thing

Daylight Savings is one of those things that make you want to scratch your head and say "Why is this a thing?" It seems pretty weird right? Especially when one goes digging a little further and notice that it's actually a pretty new thing too. So why did we start this thing called Daylight Savings and how did we ever get on without it?


Well, not surprisingly, we got on fine without it...

The story begins with the evolution of society. In the early modern era (1600s) mechanical clocks started to become all the rage. By the time the industrial revolution was already in full swing, many of these industrialized nations told time according to these mechanical clocks. The idea was that by setting clocks ahead, you get an extra hour of daylight. Because time was standardized, it was thought that the dreariness of the uniformity of working class life in the industrial era left little time for leisure.

Modern Daylight Savings Time was first proposed by George Hudson in 1898. He initially advocated for a two-hour shift. Englishman William Willet also thought of the idea in 1905, wishing people wouldn't sleep through the summer day.

Proponents of Daylight Savings say that people who follow the "nine to five" work schedule prefer to have an extra hour of sunlight after work to utilize. Ok, a weak argument at best, especially considering the "nine to five" myth hasn't been a reality for near-on 50 years now. Historically speaking, the first person to suggest Daylight Savings was Benjamin Franklin, but then we all knew that thanks to the movie "National Treasure" when Riley knows something Ben Gates doesn't...

Ok, so it's actually a common misconception that Franklin actually proposed it–standard time didn't exist in the 18th century–as he meant it completely satirically; but you can give him some credit for the idea. Franklin's argument stemmed from energy conservation: another hour of daylight meant less candles to use at night; to our modern world this translates to less electricity being used.

Modern Daylight Savings Time didn't really exist before the late 1890's. During the world wars, it was used as a means to save energy–namely coal–and therefore keep their wartime economy going as pragmatically as possible; however, we would not see real widespread use of Daylight Savings in the Western countries until the late 20th century. In the US, Daylight Savings wasn't instituted in peacetime until 1966.

Opponents of Daylight Savings claim that geography has a big part to play in whether or not it's even slightly effective. For example, regions in higher latitudes towards the poles will exhibit almost zero impact from Daylight Savings. The same goes for the tropics. Why? Because the hourly shifts in sunlight throughout the year are so drastic, one hour does virtually nothing. In the tropics, there is so little change in sunlight hours of the seasons, that it again has zero impact.

Others claim that Daylight Savings actually hurts the economy, with the time shifts themselves messing up primetime TV schedules, work hours, and markets, which in turn hurts investors. Apparently there are also health risks involved in this time shift, with some studies pointing towards disturbing natural circadian rhythms in the body, as well as even causing increased rates heart attacks in the three days just after the shift.

Honestly, it probably doesn't matter either way. With the state of things in the world, there are PLENTY of other serious issues to be taken care of other than Daylight Savings Time.

No matter what effect we may think it has or doesn't have, chances are there are a plethora of ways to address the issues we trying to mitigate through Daylight Savings initiatives.

All information was taken from Wikipedia and the sources it cites.