Time's up: Dump the clock-changing foolishness, already

It sows confusion and discombobulation (is it spring forward, fall back — or the other way round?). Some studies have found a correlation between changing the clocks and increased heart attacks, strokes and car accidents. That’s not proof, of course, but given how messing with time schedules can disrupt sleep, and messing with sleep can decrease alertness and impair physical health, it’s not hard to see a connection.

But inertia is a powerful force. We keep doing it because we’ve been doing it. And with more important issues commanding the attention of Congress, lawmakers must find it a lot easier just to follow this pointless tradition than to take to the time to examine it.

Nevertheless, momentum is building nationally to dump this practice and stick with daylight saving time year round. (In the event you are confused — and many of us are — daylight saving is recognized for the eight months from March to November; standard time is what we revert to for the other four months.)

Sixteen states including California have endorsed the idea of remaining on daylight saving time permanently, and others are considering it. Two states don’t do the clock-changing thing at all, but that’s because they recognize standard time year -round: Arizona (except for the portion within the Navajo nation), because of the summer heat, and Hawaii, because of its proximity to the equator, which gives each day there a roughly equal amount of daylight all year long. The European parliament has also voted to stop changing the clocks but has yet to actually implement the change.

Time may be running short for the clock-changing foolishness. This week Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., reintroduced a bill that would put the nation on permanent daylight saving time. It’s the third time he has proposed this change since 2018, when his state’s Legislature voted in favor of stopping the time shift. Earlier versions didn’t get very far. This time may be different, however, because Rubio has enlisted the support of seven other senators from both parties.

We sure hope the third time is the charm because the benefits for keeping this tradition, if there ever were any, aren’t relevant in 2021. It didn’t deliver any significant energy savings, as was hoped when adopted during World War I. And though we have all heard the argument about kids having to walk to school in the dark if we don’t move the clocks back for winter, it’s not really an issue today.

And the poor farmers we have heard so much about? It’s a myth that adopting daylight saving was a measure to help agriculture. In fact, when California voted to start the clock-changing practice in 1949, farmers were very much opposed to it, noting that cows didn’t care whether it was 6 a.m. or 3 million o’clock.

There are some who would prefer permanent standard time, which means more daylight in the morning year -round. But we think it makes more sense to have more daylight at the end of the day when more people are awake and active. Besides, it would be less disruptive, as we already spend two-thirds of the year on daylight saving time.