A Borrowed Hour

Heather Byrne
Staff Writer
  Daylight savings’ annual disappearance and reappearance never fails to catch citizens of many countries off guard. Daylight savings was originally used by Germany during World War I to consume as little gas, oil and electricity as possible for the war effort. The United States then followed Germany in this process and began utilizing  daylight savings time. By implementing this, it aided the U.S. in saving materials that the government needed to provide for the soldiers during World War II. Saving power and fossil fuels also encouraged the production and transportation of bullets, guns, military vehicles, bombs, and even canned foods. Although the U.S. used daylight savings throughout the world wars, daylight savings was not officially accepted until 1960 by the Department of Transportation or DOT. Soon after the DOT announced the need for the change, the U.S. federal government made it official to spare the country of confusion. The confusion of so many different times was too complicated for the DOT due to scheduled train times, boat arrivals, and plane flights, so daylight savings was eventually instituted throughout the United States. Daylight savings is not explicitly needed today, although it does give an extra hour of sleep to participants. Daylight savings is managed by the Interstate Commerce Commision to ensure plane flights and scheduled events can be safe and possible. Daylight savings also helps regulate times within the four different time zones in the United States. These time zones include Pacific, Mountain, Central and Eastern. 
  According to a survey taken at Bonneville High School, daylight savings is not very beneficial to the community due to the confusion it causes. One student answered: “We don’t know what time it [is] anymore.” Another remarked: “It throws off my internal clock and my siblings[’] as well.” These quotes show that daylight savings may not be as beneficial as it is credited to be and has conflict that shouldn’t be ignored. Daylight savings is also unfavorable for those who have depression and anxiety. According to a student at Bonneville, daylight savings causes them to feel depressed due to the sudden change and the amount of darkness it brings when the day  is coming to an end. Daylight savings will continue to be a conflict until it is either proven more beneficial or abandoned completely.