Sunday, Nov. 3 marked the end of daylight savings time, and almost all Americans gained an hour of sleep to accommodate for more daylight in the morning.
The purpose of daylight savings time is to make greater use of natural daylight by adjusting clocks so that the sun rises and sets earlier. The fall back to standard time is meant to jumpstart the mornings, but some USC students are not feeling motivated by the change.
“I hate it,” said Kendall Huggins, a sophomore business major. “It makes me really tired, really fast. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but right now I just feel really sleepy.” Now that the sun is setting before 5 p.m., Huggins said that they are struggling to stay productive and study.
“I just feel like my day gets cut shorter. It’s 6 a.m. and the sun is already out. It goes through my window and it messes up my time,” said english major Joselyn Ramos.
Cade Huggins, another business major, added, “It’s not fun. Before, I used to wake up before the sun rose, and then I could watch the sunrise. Now I wake up and the sun’s already out, and I don’t like that. And it gets dark really early and I get tired.”
Some students are trying to accept the change. Rohit Dsouza, who studies architecture, said “it does limit my productivity when I’m transitioning into it, but that happens to me every year.” Another Thornton major, Andy Brems, said “I’m cool with it in the fall, but in the spring I hate it.”
Many expressed that the shift feels unnecessary and dated. However, there were some early-birds that were more welcoming to the early morning rays: “I like daylight savings because I like when it’s brighter in the morning. I’m in ROTC so I wake up really early, but I don’t like when it gets dark really early and it’s not even late,” said Bella Sanchez, who is trying to stay positive but has felt that her body has needed to adjust.
Not all states observe daylight savings time. Hawaii and Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Nation) do not participate in daylight savings time. Nor do the U.S. territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In 2024, daylight savings will begin again on March 10 and end on Nov. 3. When we “spring forward” in March, students can look forward to sunnier summer evenings.