Time, being one of the more stable human inventions, should be above the petty tinkering of government. Yet this weekend, time changed, and we regained a lost hour. Or something.
From its origins in the satire of Benjamin Franklin, daylight saving time has acquired the cast of surety — even if no one can justify why, precisely, it exists at all.
Variously, I hear explanations ranging from “It keeps the sun up later,” to “You can do more things at night,” to the mildly redundant “It saves daylight … you know?” When pressed, no one can plainly state what tricks of reason make the changing of time depending on the season a wise idea.
Benjamin Franklin’s hand in the beginning of daylight saving time is fascinating. Tired of watching Paris wake at noon every day, he penned a satirical jeremiad calling for everyone to be forced awake at daybreak.
“Every morning, as soon as the sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing; and if that is not sufficient, let cannon be fired in every street, to wake the sluggards effectually, and make them open their eyes to see their true interest.
Franklin’s arguments, satire or not, did have some influence on the daylight saving debate. The main arguments, however, had more to do with saving energy.
Originally meant to save fuel in wartime, daylight saving time was widely utilized by the end of World War I in the United States.
Subsequent acts of Congress codified the scheme, and now it is in effect nearly everywhere, save the few holdouts like Arizona.
Does daylight saving timesave energy? As with many government interventions, the ghost of unintended consequence haunts the question.
According to Tufts University professor Michael Downing, the energy savings promised by daylight saving haven’t exactly materialized. One thing that wasn’t anticipated by the planners, he says, was the advent of driving as the main method of transportation. And, according to a University of California at Santa Barbara study, Indiana residents consumed 1 to 4 percent more energy on daylight saving time than on standard time once Indiana left the ranks of the DST holdouts.
I find myself agreeing with noted curmudgeon Robertson Davies, who said, “I don’t really care how time is reckoned so long as there is some agreement about it, but I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind … At the back of the daylight saving scheme I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves.”
Sounds about right to me.
We’re lucky to live in a state that leaves time alone, at least for now.
Of all the things Arizona could export, this small sanity would perhaps be most useful. Time is back to normal now. Next spring, we should let it stay that way.
Reach Will at wmunsil@asu.edu.
