# why does Daylight Savings Time exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569 "2003-10-04T17:45:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/1 "2003-10-04T17:45:23Z")
why move clocks an hour for Daylight Savings Time? What is the logic behind DST? They used to claim that it save electricity, because your waking hours coincided with the sunshine, so you use less lighting. But surely that’s irrelevant nowadays. The amount of electricity used by lamps to light your home is miniscule compared with the watts used for heating/air conditioning,cooking, or even the TV and computer screens. And most places of work–both offices and manufacturing plants --have all the lights turned on all the time during working hours, whether it’s regular season, or daylight savings time. So where’s the logic? ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/2 "2003-10-04T18:07:48Z")
There’s a great number of people who just like starting the day an hour earlier–they’d even prefer Daylight Saving Time to be year round. For them, the more daylight at the end of the day, the better. They can practice soccer, play golf, hunt, fish, do yardwork, whatever. DST is just a way of doing that without the expense of reprinting schedules and signs etc. Me, I’d just as soon not have DST at all. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/3 "2003-10-04T18:09:49Z")
Don’t forget that the extra hour daily sunlight means the curtains fade just that much faster, too! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/4 "2003-10-04T18:10:09Z")
Actually, the idea predates the use of electric lighting, and the reasoning can be applied to conservation of any resources having to do with artificial lighting. Benjamin Franklin was among the first to make such suggestions, although HE was being whimsical: [http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin.html](http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin.html) William Willet , a London builder, made the suggestion seriously in 1907 in a pamphlet entitled “The Waste of Daylight”. [http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html](http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html) [http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/willett.html](http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/willett.html) > [@](#): > > I therefore venture to propose that at 2 a.m. on each of four Sunday mornings in April, standard time shall advance 20 minutes; and on each of four Sundays in September, shall recede 20 minutes, or in other words that for eight Sundays of 24 hours each, we shall substitute four, each 20 minutes less than 24 hours, and four each 20 minutes more than 24 hours. Just be glad we didn’t wind up with his proposal unmodified. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/5 "2003-10-04T18:13:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RM Mentock \* > \*\*There’s a great number of people who just like starting the day an hour earlier–they’d even prefer Daylight Saving Time to be year round. For them, the more daylight at the end of the day, the better. > DST is just a way of doing that without the expense of reprinting schedules and signs etc. > \*\* If they like DST (as I do, in the summer),then why set the clocks back to non-DST in the winter? Why not just leave the clock where it is all year long? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/6 "2003-10-04T18:22:54Z")
Personally, I would prefer abolishing DST along with time zones and just using UTC worldwide. Just adjust local schedules such as store hours to convenient daylight hours. Will never happen though. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/7 "2003-10-04T18:23:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Why not just leave the clock where it is all year long? School busses. The usual reason I’ve seen given for resetting the clocks in the winter is that the younger kids, who generally get on the busses later, would have to wait by the side of the road in the dark. (At least around here, high school and middle school kids are already being picked up in the dark. Farther north–Seattle, Butte, Pierre, Duluth/Superior, Marquette, etc.–probably all the kids are boarding in the dark, but down below the main population parallel–New York, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago–the smaller kids can continue to wait in some amount of daylight with a changed schedule.) ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/8 "2003-10-04T18:32:26Z")
The beginning and ending of DST usually mean that people like me, who get up around 6:30 or so, are getting up when it’s dark. Getting up when it’s dark makes me very irritable the whole day. Hence, I look forward to the return to standard time. Until December, when I still have to get up when it’s dark. ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/9 "2003-10-04T21:16:30Z")
[The Master speaks.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_052.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/10 "2003-10-04T22:57:03Z")
Everytime this comes up the response is always so negative against DST. Personally I find the day in autumn when we switch back to standard time to be the most depressing day of the year! Summer is long since over, its getting colder and colder, and now all-of-a-sudden its freakin’ pitch black at 5pm!! ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/11 "2003-10-04T23:02:31Z")
…but that means Christmas is coming. It’s an ill wind indeed that blows nobody good. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/12 "2003-10-04T23:04:29Z")
Here is a good definition of Daylight Savings Time: [http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/index.html](http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![doctordoowop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@doctordoowop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doctordoowop)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/13 "2003-10-05T00:43:26Z")
To save energy,after/during the 1st"gas crisis" of 1974-baseball nite games started at 7:30, instead of 8PM. Then after the energy crisis of about 1980 most start times moved up again-to 7PM. The earlier times were popular, so now even if energy was a none issue ,IMO the times would stay as is. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/14 "2003-10-05T04:24:38Z")
Piggybacking off of this question, here’s something I’ve wondered for a while: Why do we set the clocks forward/back in April & October? Wouldn’t it make more sense for the beginning and end of DST to be evenly spaced around the summer solstice — some time around the equinoxes, say — instead of about five weeks later? ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/15 "2003-10-05T12:58:57Z")
Hi-Jack - Whatever happened with symmetry on daylight saving time? In Fall, we revert back to Standard time aspproximately seven weeks (~Oct 28) before the Winter Solstice. In Spring, we go to DST about 14-15 weeks (~Apr 4) after the Winter Solstice. Isn’t it dark in late October at 7 am when the kiddies are waiting for the bus? ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/16 "2003-10-05T14:20:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by doctordoowop \* > \*\*To save energy, \*\* That doesnt make sense. Who cares if it is light outside when people are still in bed and how does that save elctricity? Sleeping people dont turn on electric lights. More people are up after 500pm using electric lights than are up at 500am using electric lights. If it was still light outside after 500pm many people would do outher things outside using no electricity instead of going into the house and turining on electric lights and tvs. Seems to me that if you wanted to save electric, then you would permanently move back the time keeping the mornings dark and the evenings light outside so that elecric light use is needed most when the fewest people are awake. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/17 "2003-10-05T14:39:54Z")
Daylight saving, for this year, started yesterday. It seems to have three general purposes. 1: To make children whinge “but mum it’s not dark yet I can’t go to bed” 2: To make farmers whinge about having to rearrange milking times. 3: To allow the smell of sausages, chops and steak, from BBQ’s, to linger around the neighbourhood until much later. We got the daylight saving, now can we please have the weather to go with it! ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/18 "2003-10-05T14:50:09Z")
The US is on Daylight _Saving_ Time from the beginnging of April to the end of October. That’s 7 months. So “Standard” Time is used less. So shouldn’t DST be Standard and Standard be “Daylight Wasting Time”? :D:D ---
**Author:** ![herman\_and\_bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f1d935/32.png) [@herman\_and\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herman_and_bill)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/19 "2003-10-05T15:46:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AWB \* > \*\*The US is on Daylight _Saving_ Time \*\* At last, now I don’t have to nit pick. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569/20 "2003-10-05T19:13:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\*School busses. > > The usual reason I’ve seen given for resetting the clocks in the winter is that the younger kids, who generally get on the busses later, would have to wait by the side of the road in the dark. (At least around here, high school and middle school kids are already being picked up in the dark. Farther north–Seattle, Butte, Pierre, Duluth/Superior, Marquette, etc.–probably all the kids are boarding in the dark, but down below the main population parallel–New York, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago–the smaller kids can continue to wait in some amount of daylight with a changed schedule.) \*\* This is complete baloney in my opinion. If the schools don’t want kids waiting in the dark for school buses, then why not just start SCHOOL an hour later rather than make us ALL adjust our freekin’ clocks? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-daylight-savings-time-exist/205569.md?page=2)