Daylight Saving Debate: Should we end the changing of the clocks? Dani Beckstrom explains
Time flies when you're watching an Eyewitness News Special
Time. Some see it as a social construct, others see it as a magazine.
Time is the concept of "when." When our shift starts, what time we need to go to bed, or how long ago the dog was taken for a walk.
The way we live our lives, time is a necessity. But we are all reminded of just how artificial time is when our clocks flip from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. and daylight saving time begins.
Now that our smart phones and watches automatically adjust to the time change for us, you might not have realized the clocks sprung forward. At least, not until you had to change the clock in your car, or you woke up feeling a little less well-rested than usual.
In this Eyewitness News Special, Meteorologist Dani Beckstrom takes a closer look at what daylight saving time is, and what it would mean if we stopped changing our clocks.
Every year, on the Sunday in March, the clocks "spring forward" an hour, taking an hour of sunlight from the morning hours and moving it to the evening.
Daylight saving time, as the next months are referred to as, ends on the first Sunday of November. That's when we "fall back" to what's known as standard time.
You have probably heard the argument to stop changing the clocks twice a year, but what would that really mean for us? And if we stop changing the clocks, which time do we stick with- daylight saving time or standard time?
Florida Senator Marco Rubio recently re-introduced the Sunshine Protection Act, which aims to make daylight saving time permanent across the United States. But when you look at the potential psychological and economic consequences, some argue this is the wrong move.
Dani spoke to experts about the endless debate on the seemingly timeless tradition.
She also took a look back at some archival footage from 1974 when President Richard Nixon signed a bill to put the U.S. on permanent daylight saving time. As we play back the tapes, it is clear to see why only eight months later, the Senate voted to bring the time change back.
Fifty years later, experts and everyday Americans agree, something other than our clocks needs to change.
But for now, a broken clock is still right twice a day, and an American clock still changes twice a year.
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