Daylight Savings, the act of “Springing forward” and “Falling back” has been, to say the absolute least, a widely debated and controversial topic.

To put it simply: Daylight Savings Time (DST) is the action of setting the clocks one hour ahead of standard time on the second Sunday of March, and then reverting them back to standard time on the first Sunday of November, hence the title of “Spring Forward” (losing an hour in the Springtime) and “Falling back” (gaining the previously scrapped hour back in the Fall). 

Now, why is DST so heavily debated? Why is it so controversial? Many question the purpose of DST; after all, why all this effort and fuss for a measly extra hour of daylight in the Summertime?

However, DST is more than an extra hour of sun. With the implementation of the aforementioned 60 minutes, the productivity, happiness, and safety of the public increases, much like the daylight. To laborers working outside or those in need of just a little more sunlight, the hour granted by DST is a major luxury. 

Many of the opposition for DST claim that the hassle of remembering to set their clocks accordingly in March and November is a labor not worth the outcome, and lest they forget to do so entirely, entire routines are thrown for a loop, and mass chaos ensues, or so they say.

While the argument on the hassle of setting the clocks may have worked in the 1950’s, in the digital age humanity now lives in, the act of fixing the settings on the public’s clocks an hour ahead is often done automatically, thus not causing the chaos many claim it does.

Besides some of the obvious benefits of more daylight (vitamin d intake, increased serotonin levels, etc), the extra hour has some less obvious advantages. Energy conservation, decreased crime rates, and limited traffic accidents are some notable plus sides to DST. 

While maybe a slight inconvenience to the public’s sleep schedules, the positives of DST outweigh the little bit of trouble it initially causes.