Daylight Savings Time (DST), that dreaded day when we either lose an hour or gain an hour of sleep: Why does it still exist? Every six months I find myself pondering this question. As soon as I have to move my clocks backwards or forwards, I just wonder yet again why this day still exists. It seems unnecessary, doesn’t it?

Let’s go through everything that is wrong with DST — because there are a lot of issues with it. First off is the reason DST exists. I always thought DST dates back to when farming was a more common practice and dominated the way of life for many people. The daylight shifted to better aid farmers, or something of that nature. However, this is not why DST started. DST began in Germany in May 1916 as a way to conserve fuel during World War I. The rest of Europe followed soon after and the US adopted DST in 1918. The major goal was to bring more daylight to the evenings during the summer months rather than wasting energy on lighting. My major question is: Why not just spring ahead permanently and save energy in the evenings all year?

Perhaps I’m missing something in the appeal of DST, but I think it is just silly. There’s no reason for the sun to set at 4:40 pm. It is unnecessary and depressing. Seasonal depression is a real condition that people face in the colder months. With the sun setting so early in the day and bringing so much darkness in the evenings, the condition is exacerbated and increases the amount of people that struggle with it. What are we gaining through this? I cannot name anyone who is an advocate for DST, though I am sure they exist. Most people that I am aware of think it should be done away with, and I would agree with that. 

Only about 70 countries in the world still observe daylight saving time, which means the majority of the world does not. And guess what, they seem to be doing fine without it. Every country needs to make this shift away from DST, let’s spring forward permanently!