I talk to people about Daylight Saving Time all the time, probably more than any other human on earth.
When I do, however, I always have to be careful, because everyone has an opinion about it, and they often sound conflicting, when really they aren’t.
For instance, what does it mean when someone says they are against Daylight Saving Time?
It could mean that they like it to be darker — relative to the time on the clocks — earlier in the summer. It could mean that they like the extra daylight in the summer, they just don’t like the time change where they have to Spring Forward. It could also mean that they don’t like suddenly having it be dark when they come home from work in the fall.
They are all valid points of view, but different. I’ve tried to explain it with words forever, and then the incomparable Kirk Anderson came up with this cool graphic that does it much better:
I think this makes it clear that if you want to take a position on DST, you’ll want to actually take two positions:
- Do you want to change the clocks twice a year?
- If not, which time zone do you want to be in, Standard or Daylight Saving Time?
If you have clarity on those two questions, then you’ll be able to figure out what you do want.
By the way, you may be asking what I want. I’ll tell you: No more clock changing, and for Colorado I think year-round DST works best. For many other states, especially ones like Nebraska and Michigan that are on the western edge of their time zones, they may opt for year-round standard time. Whatever they want is fine with me.
The best thing for all of us would be to just stop doing the thing that is deadly, and that’s changing clocks twice a year.