OXFORD — Well, it’s that time of year again, time to fall back with the clock.
Sunday at 2 a.m., most of the nation and part of the rest of the world reverts to standard time. Some folks are looking forward to an extra hour of sleep. Since I usually wake up before sunup, it doesn’t make that much difference to me.
I’m not sure which I like best — standard time or daylight saving time. I think it’s the schedule that I get used to before it changes again.
What I don’t like is changing the clock twice a year.
I’d vote to leave us on standard time year-round — or as a second choice, go daylight saving time all 12 months. Just stop changing it.
If there was a reason for changing the clocks twice a year — and perhaps there was in World War I and World War II — it no longer exists.
Back then, presumably, the extra hour of daylight in the evenings meant less consumption of electricity for burning lights. In World War I in Germany and France, it was purposed to save coal.
Now, with air-conditioning and all sorts of power consuming gadgets, studies show there isn’t much advantage, energy-wise, to running up the clock an hour.
The advantage of daylight saving time, especially for people with daytime jobs, is that it provides more daylight after working hours for outdoor activities.
The disadvantage for some in rural areas is they have to head for work in the dark, or in the case of school kids, catch the bus before daylight.
Two states — Arizona and Hawaii — don’t observe it.
They say summers are so hot in Arizona that they need the sun to set as early as possible. But the Navajo Nation in Arizona does observe daylight saving time.
In Hawaii, there isn’t a huge difference in the number of daylight hours between winter and summer so they see no need to fiddle with the clock.
A number of states have passed legislation that could lead to keeping the same time year-round. But unlike Arizona and Hawaii, most or all of these would settle on daylight saving time.
According to Wikipedia, a movement has been organized in support of the legalization of using daylight saving time as the year-round option. The argument is that the lifestyles and work patterns of modern-day citizens are no longer compatible with the concept of shifting the clock every spring and fall.
Don’t look for it to happen anytime soon. Congress has to sign off on allowing states to keep daylight saving time year-round, although they can, like Arizona and Hawaii, keep standard time year-round.
Daylight saving appears to be the more popular option.
In 2018, Florida approved the “Sunshine Protection Act” which seeks to permanently leave Florida in daylight saving time. The bill is still waiting on approval from Congress.
Arkansas has passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, but the changes won’t go into effect until its bordering states change their clocks permanently, too.
Washington, Tennessee, Oregon, Nevada and Alabama have also approved legislation to enact year-long daylight saving time. But none of the changes can go into effect without approval from the federal government.
A few bills were introduced in the Mississippi Legislature earlier this year on the subject. They died in committee.
So, set those clocks back an hour before going to bed Saturday night and get used to the time, which will change again in March.
Dunagin, who lives in Oxford, is a retired longtime Mississippi newspaperman.
