As the Sunshine Protection Act makes its way through the House to make daylight saving time permanent, the opinion on this bill has turned to online debates on where people would like their extra hour of sunlight to go.
Opinions are split between three sides; people who approve of this bill, people who would prefer standard time over daylight saving time, and people who don’t support the bill at all and enjoy changing their clocks twice a year.
Personally, I am excited by this bill. I usually wake up after the sun rises so the only change I would see in my day would be positive: more sunlight. I also enjoy this bill because it will remove the need to change any non-digital clocks, such as the one in my car.
The main arguments against daylight saving usually stem from one example, the last time the U.S. tried making daylight saving time permanent. People said that children had a hard time adjusting because of schools starting later, and more people were sleep-deprived.
I argue that this change wouldn’t cause any more sleep deprivation than having to change your clocks twice a year does. After people adjust to the change, their sleep schedule will as well. Any sleep deprivation would be the fault of the person who didn’t go to sleep in time, not the fault of a clock that was changed multiple months ago.
I also want to argue that the previous time the U.S. tried to make daylight saving time permanent cannot apply as an example today because of how long ago it happened.
The last time the U.S. made daylight saving time permanent was in 1974, nearly five decades ago. Society and technology have changed dramatically in this time and I feel we would have a very different response now. With digital clocks that change automatically and more schools starting later, the change would be hardly noticeable.
Many complaints about this bill stem from the fact that children will have to go to school in darkness, but I feel this isn’t really a valid complaint as they already have to go to school in darkness. During winter I would get to school in the dark and watch the sunrise as school was starting. Instead of complaining about children going to school and waiting for the bus in the dark, why not use this as an opportunity to ask the city to build more street lights along roads?
People also bring up the fact that they will be working while it is dark. I can understand that people may not want to work while it is dark outside and they may feel more productive after sunrise, but having a later day would mean having more light after work. This would mean being able to get more done around the house and relax more before the day is over.
Overall, I think the arguments against this bill are overvalued. This bill would be an overall net positive, and focusing on the bill and not passing it would be holding our country back from making necessary changes. I feel that there is a high chance of this bill passing the House considering it passed through the Senate unanimously, but I’m not a politician so all I can do is wait and see.
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