Is Daylight Savings Worth the Time?

On March 11, 2018, the clocks will be turned one hour ahead to make for a more efficient and better use of daylight.

Max Larsen, Sports Editor

According to National Geographic, a survey from March 2013 shows that only 37 percent of Americans think that Daylight Savings Time (DST) is necessary. Arizona is one of the states that doesn’t use Daylight Savings Time, since they go by “Mountain Time.” In Arizona, the sun is concentrated on the state, which is why the temperature is always high here. That means that DST would just be affecting us in more of a negative way rather than a positive way because of the excess daylight. DST’s value also depends on where you live. For places that have extra sunlight in the morning, it is worth the hassle to wake up and set the clocks an hour ahead because most people aren’t very active in the morning. But for places like Arizona, with tall mountains that block out the morning sun, daylight doesn’t show itself very quickly, and instead, we get a longer midday. However, in the Navajo Nation, they do use DST. The reason is due to a lack of mountain ranges and the sun tends to reflect and rise a little earlier there. This means they will set their clocks ahead just to get that extra hour later in the day.

People believe that Benjamin Franklin was the creator and inventor of Daylight Saving Time. He realized that instead of using candles to light the day, he found that it would be easier to set the clocks an hour ahead for extra daylight time. In contrast, according to History, it was actually Englishman William Willett who led the first campaign to incorporate Daylight Savings Time. Willett would spend most of his free time and money trying to officialize Daylight Savings Time and study it. Sadly, Willett died at age 58 in 1915, without ever seeing his studies and money put to use. Daylight Savings Time, despite this, was eventually put into play on the first Sunday of April, 1986.

Daylight Savings Time is all based on your location. Areas in Europe, Brazil, and the Middle East need that extra hour since the sun rises early, so it’s more beneficial to switch it to the midday. On the other hand, in Arizona, excluding the Navajo Nation, we don’t need that extra hour because the sun tends to rise later and we already get a lot of sunlight. There is no definite answer if DST is actually worth using or preferred, but it can be helpful.