IS DAYLIGHT SAVINGS A WASTE OF TIME?

TIME TICKING AWAY; GRAPHIC BY RYAN WEBER

A Little History of Daylight Savings

Before getting to the opinions of the student body let's look at the history of Daylights. The first time Daylight saving was introduced into the United States was March, of 1918. But it was not implemented in Iowa until 1962 because farmers kept vetoing it from law through the years from 1918 up to 1962 by saying that it would make the day shorter. From then up until 1966 Iowa had different time zones, one city could set clocks to daylight savings and one stayed in the regular time throughout the year. Now from 1966 to the present day there is a law to have a standard time throughout the year.

Effects on Daily Life

The students vary from loving it to hating Daylight saving and thinking that it is unnecessary to switch the times through the year. But the majority of students say that it really doesn’t affect their daily routine too much. It is more of an annoyance for them than anything major, like having to walk home in the dark after extracurriculars, it also being harder to get up in the morning and say that they are super tired in the afternoons after school since it is getting darker out earlier. 

The same vein as it getting darker and lighter earlier, students' sleeping patterns have begun to be affected by the time change. Some of the changes are good ones like going to bed earlier than they had been and that it has made it easier for them to get up in the morning with a brighter sky outside. As well as students saying that they get more time to get more sleep. 

On the flip side of this, other students have said that it is harder for them to wake up in the mornings and feel like they get less sleep than before, because of the hour falling back. But a lesser margin of students said that the change doesn't bother them at all and hasn’t affected their sleeping patterns. 

Student Body's Overarching Opinions

The most popular opinion of Daylight Savings is that it serves no purpose in modern day or just straight up hating it all together, from having to fall back in the Fall and lose an hour of sleep springing forward in the Spring. Students say that we just need to pick one time and stick to it and not change times at all. Although other students say that they like having a little change in their life, as well as marking the holidays are approaching. So is Daylight saving a waste of time and should we get rid of it?