As a Boyertown graduate, a real estate agent at Glocker Realty, and also a proud member of Building a Better Boyertown & BMBA, I have had the joy of watching our little town grow. I enjoy having any part in helping our community to move forward. I hope this weekly blog will help shine a light on all the great things happening in and around Boyertown, PA.

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Turning back Time

Originally posted on 11/4/21, but I thought it was worth another go.

As the days get shorter and darkness comes quicker, I for one do not look forward to the end of “Daylight Saving Time” or (DST). This Sunday we will turn our clocks back one hour and usher in “Standard Time”. The funny thing is, “Standard Time” is only in effect during 18 of the 52 weeks in a year. I would be happy for daylight savings time to become our official year-round time. I know not everyone agrees with me, which is why daylight saving time is a hot topic of conversation every time we flip flop our clocks each year.

To get a better understanding of this bi-yearly event, let’s see how it started.

The idea was first suggested in an essay by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 to conserve the amount of candle and lamp oil usage. It wasn’t until 1918, during World War I, that the United States decided to implement the clock change, as a war time effort to conserve electricity and increase productivity. After WWI, the measure was done away with, then re-established again during World War II. However, it did not become a standard practice in the United States until 1966, when Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which standardized daylight saving across the country and established its start and end times in April and October (later changed to March and November in 2007).

Many think that daylight saving time was conceived to give farmers an extra hour of sunlight to till their fields, but this is a common misconception. In fact, farmers have long been opposed to springing forward and falling back, since it throws off their usual harvesting schedule. In fact, the largest proponent of daylight saving time are the business and retail industry. Retailers found that if there is still daylight when workers leave their jobs, they will be much more likely to stop and shop on their way home. This makes daylight saving a very profitable measure for them.

Not all states observe daylight saving time. Hawaii and Arizona currently stick to standard time throughout the year. But each year, more states say it is time to stop futzing with the clock and embrace daylight saving time year-round.

Millions of Americans want to abandon the time change we endure twice each year, disrupting our circadian rhythms and creating confusion. More than a third of U.S. states now back a permanent shift to daylight saving time. If that happens, it would be a final victory for a plan that businesses have praised for more than 100 years. I sure would be happy too.

Those of you who are early risers might appreciate the morning sunshine when we turn back the clocks this Sunday. I, on the other hand, who is not an early riser, will miss that hour of sunshine in the evening. I will be very happy to say hello to daylight saving time again in March.