Twice a year, Americans moan and groan when they have to switch their clocks an hour forward or backward. Over a century ago, the United States adopted daylight saving time (commonly misconstrued as daylight savings time, adding an ‘s’ to the end) to help conserve energy and give farmers more daytime to work.

While it would have made sense at the time the law was implemented, it is a much outdated practice. At this point, switching the clocks has turned more into a nuisance than a convenience.

In the fall, losing the hour of daylight at night kicks “seasonal depression” into gear for many Americans. With the sky getting darker outside around 5pm in the winter, it makes people more tired and lethargic earlier in the day.

Permanently adding an extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day would help make people more productive in the later hours. Whether you think you work better at night or day, the sunshine is bound to put a smile on your face and keep you awake. Gaining an extra hour of sleep in the fall is a helpful addition for everyone, but it gets negated in March due to the current daylight saving format.

Let’s also not forget about those who are working the graveyard shift in November. Picture this: you’ve had a stressful day, an annoying shift, and you can’t wait to clock out at 2:00 am. You see that you have one minute left and then just like magic, it’s back to 1:00 am. It’s like Groundhog Day but worse because there are no animals named Phil to celebrate.

Many lawmakers are attempting to make this change happen. The Sunshine Protection Act, a bill that pushes for permanent daylight saving across the country, was shut down last year by Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House. With a new Speaker, we could see more progression on the bill.

Arizona and Hawaii have already opted to not observe daylight saving time. Residents of those states enjoy the cooler temperatures in the morning hours due to the climates of those areas. 

An age-old pain of changing the clocks twice a year is ready to be done away with. It has become less important through time and only causes frustrations. We can only hope that the bill is passed, and daylight saving time becomes a fad of the past.