Trojans will get an extra hour of sleep this Sunday, when clocks will shift back to standard time and out of daylight saving time.
But why does the United States adopt this concept of warping time?
In the northern hemisphere days are longer in the summer and shorter in the winter, and daylight saving time shifts clocks an hour forward to maximize light in the summer months. This quest to utilize all possible bright hours is scheduled from the second Sunday in March through the first Sunday of November.
The extra hour of light is added in the afternoon to avoid sleeping through it in the morning. Warmer temperatures use daylight saving time, while the rest of the months use standard time.
Daylight saving time was first adopted by Germany in 1916 for the purpose of conserving energy and maximizing war production in the midst of World War I. The U.S. adopted the idea two years later and has been using daylight saving time for over a century now.
The two states that choose not to save daylight are Arizona and Hawaii. Arizona found it impractical to have the sunset at a later time during the hottest months of the year and Hawaii’s close proximity to the equator creates no difference in how much sunlight the state receives throughout the year.
On the other hand, most states are attempting to push for a permanent daylight saving time. In the Senate, the Sunshine Protection Act was proposed for a second time by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Last year, the act passed unanimously in the Senate but stalled and expired in the House.
Representatives were hesitant to pass the bill since it proposed permanent daylight saving time rather than a permanent standard time while Sen. Rubio of Florida argued that it would be economically beneficial.
Health experts lobbied against the bill since under permanent daylight saving time, winter sunrises would be as late as 9 a.m. in some states, which could mean commuting to school or work in the dark. They also argued that standard time is more natural for the body’s circadian rhythm leading to healthier sleep patterns.
Students at USC also expressed their ambivalent opinions on this issue.
Malaya Galindez, a sophomore majoring in health and human sciences, shared how daylight savings made her more prone to feeling dismal and unmotivated. She said, “Honestly… I feel like it makes me less productive. But I do like having that extra hour of sleep, but I feel like it wears off pretty quickly… I… just end up waking up earlier… I feel like it doesn’t really have a huge impact on my day to day life.”
Meanwhile Alex Zhu, a masters student studying analytics, said that from his time living in Massachusetts and China, the shift was neither drastic nor did it make a difference. He stated, “I’m just completely neutral on it. If we have it, we have it. If we don’t, we don’t. That’s it.”
On the federal level, the Sunshine Bill is stalling, but in 2020 voters in California passed a proposition that gave the state lawmakers the ability to change daylight saving time measures and, it’s now up to them to take action and rally enough votes. If they obtain the needed two-thirds majority, they would only be allowed to switch to permanent standard time due to the Uniform Time Act of 1966.
State lawmakers have not taken any action since the legislation was passed, so Californians continue to wait for either the federal or state governments to end springing ahead and falling behind every year.