Daylight Stupid Time is Stupid
It’s Time to Stop the Madness of Thinking We Can Control Time
My wife nudged me and said, “It’s 6:00.” My body said, “No, that’s not possible. She’s clearly wrong. Go back to sleep.” My head agreed, so we went back to sleep. Twenty minutes later, she nudged me again. “Hunny, it’s after 6:20.” I actually rolled over to look at the clock and see what she was on about. I’d heard the words clearly — both times — but the meaning was utterly lost.
My bedside clock said: IT’S AFTER 6:20, YOU’RE LATE!
“Oh my god! You were telling me it was after 6:20!” I rolled, bleary-eyed, out of the bed and failed to put on my robe. I couldn’t quite get my mind into gear.
“Ok, I’m up,” I said. As if this would somehow change reality.
“YOU’RE STILL LATE!” my clock yelled at me.
Frantic showering, grooming and dressing ensued. This was follow by very cautious driving because it’s raining and people (like me) are obviously tired and late and angry about all those things — and they should be. On the radio, there was a report of three accidents on my stretch of road alone. We usually have none.
Studies show that the switch to Daylight Stupid Time (DST) creates a lot of havoc with the usual sleep patterns and alertness. This results in an increase in car accidents, lost revenue and even damaging/fatal health impacts.
I’ve been anti-Daylight Stupid Time for decades. I know that the concept has the very best of intentions, but in almost every aspect of Daylight Stupid Time has failed, and it’s only caused a rash of other issues that exacerbate the problem. We don’t even have to apologize to Benjamin Franklin for DST because he didn’t “invent” it. That myth has circulated for years as a fallacious appeal to authority that is easily debunked. In fact, Franklin proposed waking up with the sun rather than at an artificial clock-determined time — which is what Daylight Stupid Time makes us do!
Further, lets drop the myth that Daylight Stupid Time is a benefit to farmers. Farmers and ranchers, and by extension their farms and animals, don’t give two shakes of a lamb’s tail what time the clock says. Agrarian workers are usually up before dawn and continue working until long after sunset. An hour at either end doesn’t change their schedule because there’s is always work to be done, and Daylight Stupid Time doesn’t give them a single benefit. In fact, farmers have led the charge against Daylight Stupid Time because it can impact their bottom line. Other industries also feel the burn from the stu
Most people don’t even need to be convinced that Daylight Stupid Time is stupid. Whatever the reasons behind their anger and frustration with this arcane practice, more people are against it — vastly — than for it. In 2018, Californians adopted Proposition 7 to eliminate the clock change with an overwhelming majority. Alas, other issues, like the tension between the conservative (and evil) Trump Administration and California’s liberal government guaranteed that Prop. 7 wouldn’t be a priority. Since its champion, California Assemblymember Kansen Chu has left the State Assembly, the bill is now just a wistful memory of a dream we once all had of better days.
That’s not to say that all hope is lost!
Other states are moving on this issue. The science — if you believe in science — is overwhelming in regards to all the dangerous impacts of Daylight Stupid Time on health and wellbeing. In 2020, Utah passed a bill to end the madness. Idaho, Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina, and Wyoming also have bills, resolutions, or other legislation pending.
It’s starting to feel like people are waking up, finding out that some weird rudeness has played with their alarm clocks, and are willing to do something about it!
If you want to help, you can add you signature to the Change.org Petition Congress: End the Time Change — Choose one Standard Time and Stay With it Year Round! You can also use Pedition2Congress to send President Joe Biden and Congress a direct message to Stop the Unnecessary Flip Flopping of Time. Then, we can all tell our clocks that they’re being silly with their outdated Daylight Stupid Time automatic updates, and get back to what really matters — some serious sleeping.
