Daylight Saving Time

If there were a contest for Roughest Mornings of the Year, the Monday after the Spring Daylight Saving Time would likely be #1. On that Sunday night - even though the clock says it's time for bed, your body is telling you it's only 10:30pm and that's too early to be trying to sleep; your brain warns that morning will be extra early, still sleep refuses to come. Then, when the alarm does go off and it's telling you one thing, your whole self feels the hour difference. Plus it's still dark outside. Who wants to wake up when it's still dark? We just got finished with all that a month or so ago.. what could possibly convince half the world that it is a good idea to switch back??

Last night as I lay in bed, unsuccessfully willing sleep to come to me, I started thinking about this Daylight Saving Time stuff. What do I actually know about this practice (except that I'd better conform or be late to work in the morning)? Ben Franklin is attributed with thinking up this 'brilliant' suggestion; something to do with helping the Farmers, and it must have been a very convincing argument that his idea was adopted then and is still maintained today. But I wished to know more. So, I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and shot off a text.

Technology is a great thing. Not only do we have the internet with boundless information, we also have cell phones with texting capabilities ready to feed us information, right at our fingertips.

Some time ago, I discovered a couple numbers that one could text to ask all sorts of questions. The first one I learned about was GoogleText (466-453). Here you're texting a computer and so there are limits to what it can tell you: Definitions, weather forecasts, sports results, it even can give you directions if you know the ride keywords to include. It's pretty good and fun to have around. Then I discovered ChaCha (242-242). With this one, your question is sent to an actual person who can do a quick search for you and text you back with an answer. While the live-answer is a really handy thing and more flexible than GoogleText, there are still a couple drawbacks to ChaCha as well. First, since it's a person, it takes a little longer to get a reply. Also, while you're waiting, they'll shoot you a text with a quick advertisement (annoying, yes. But a minimal inconvenience if you've got a texting plan and don't go TOO overboard). And second, they have a limited amount of space to answer your question, so simpler is better. Still, I've had great luck with ChaCha: how to dye melted white chocolate green, what makes distilled water distilled, and I've even gotten pointers on how to rewarm fish in the microwave. It's a pretty sweet thing to have at one's disposal.

So last night, since my computer was already shut down for the night - plus getting out of bed would have been admitting that I wasn't even close to sleeping yet, instead I grabbed my phone and sent this question to ChaCha: "How does Daylight Saving Time help farmers?" Their reply: "If there is one more hour of sunlight a farmer can get more work done and plants can thrive in the sunlight."

FAIL. I may not know why it was they decided to start practicing Daylight Saving Time, but I'm confident that there isn't a causational relationship with that practice that magically extends the amount of sunlight in a day. Nope, whatever time the humans mandate the clocks to say, the sun still rises and sets of its own accord. I'd have to say that ChaCha failed me with that one.

Being dissatisfied with my answer last night, I have since done a little of my own research (with a few reference sources a little more reliable than ChaCha) and here are my findings:

Why We Have Daylight Saving Time (DST):
MSNBC purports that we have it to save electricity, though apparently studies are still being done to support that claim.
Another site, in addition to mentioning energy conservation, it also commented that some studies show that car accidents decrease from extended daylight in the evening driving hours. Though in the fall when the hour shifts back, pedestrian/car evening fatalities rise. And they suggested that, while DST is good for retailers and theaters, its not much of a help to the farmers at all!

This is all well and good, and I suppose they work to explain why we continue to observe DST almost 100 years after it was originally proposed, but it seemed strange to think that Ben Franklin would be so worried about these issues back in the day. So, I dug a little deeper.

History of Daylight Saving Time (DST):
In my diggings, here, here and here, I learned that my assumptions and little bits of knowledge, were not actually quite correct. While the idea of adjusting time to accommodate sunlight was originally conceived by Benjamin Franklin, he originally wrote it as a satire for his friends in 1784, (While visiting Paris, in an anonymous letter to some periodical as a joke, he suggested that, to conserve candles and to better enjoy the natural light, they should tax shutters, ration candles, and wake the public by ringing church bells and firing cannons at sunrise) DST wasn't actually suggested until 1907 when a Mr. William Willett, published his idea and lobbied unsuccessfully until his death in 1915. (and officially the name is Daylight Saving Time, no s.. yeah, I had to go back and edit this whole post.. hehe. Good to know!)

According to Wikipedia, in April 1916, Germany, and its WWI allies, were the first to adopt DST officially. Shortly thereafter, Great Britain and its allies, and a few other neutral countries followed suit. Russia, and a few other countries waited until the next year, and the USA picked it up in 1918.

Conclusion:
So, apparently DST was originally thought up to conserve resources and give people added opportunities and incentive to enjoy some sunshine, though not necessarily by Benjamin Franklin really.
And now I know the rest of the story. Yay!

But what got me is that, in several different places while I was doing my searching, the articles kept saying that, despite the controversy, enactments, adjustments, and repeals... DST is probably here to stay because "People like the 'Spring forward'..."
Who are these people?? How can they say they enjoy getting up when it's dark? I, personally, am not convinced that an extra hour of light at night makes up for getting up before the sun. I blame my current disgruntlement (due to getting up when it was still dark) on Mr. Franklin and his joke with his Parisian friends.