It's that time of year when we push our clocks ahead an hour, forcing most of the nation to wake up an hour earlier. If you're anything like me, you live to see the day when this outdated practice comes to an end.
Yes, I know many of you love Daylight Saving Time. It brings one extra hour of sunlight in the summer, and gets more people outside, and all that great stuff, but I believe it all comes at several costs that far outweigh the benefits.
More and more, people are getting fed up with the practice. Recent Rasmussen polls show that only a third of Americans believe that Daylight Saving Time is worth the hassle. Many even hit the petition sites such as Moveon.org, petitions.whitehouse.gov, or other. Yet year after year, these cries are ignored. That's why I will suggest a new approach, which just might work with our current president.
But first, why again is DST so bad? Here's a quick list of problems and issues:
- Heart attacks increase for a week after the time change in the spring. They also decrease slightly in the fall, but the net is more heart attacks overall.
- Traffic accidents increase the few days after the time change in the spring.
- It interrupts everyone's sleep cycles, contributing to sleep disorders.
- It can decrease productivity.
- It increases depression in the fall.
- It has been shown to actually increase energy costs of air conditioning and gas.
- It complicates timing issues worldwide, making international commerce a little more difficult.
- It robs an hour from farmers who can't very well make their animals and plants wake up an hour earlier so that they can beat closing time at the markets.
- And finally there's that hassle of remembering to make the change, and sometimes showing up an hour early or late. If it hasn't happened to you at least once in your life, you're not human.
Here are two fun videos that go into more detail as to why DST is such a silly idea.
So what can we do about it? How about a Twitter campaign? Think about it. I'm talking inception. Send Trump, our Tweeter in Chief, a bunch of anti-DST tweets, and after reading enough of them, he might think it's his own idea, and then perhaps he'll write us a good executive order.
I figure it's worth a shot. What have we got to lose?
This past Saturday, I sent out 10 tweets over the day, hoping that one would catch our President's eyes. I've even had some retweets. If you would like to join in the fun, check out Melorama2000 and retweet to your heart's content. Remember to look under "Tweets & replies" to see these tweets.
And if you make your own tweets, let me know and I'd be happy to retweet. Anything to catch our Twitter President's attention.
Here are the tweets that I sent, my attempt to channel Trump:
@realDonaldTrump The fake news isn't covering the heart attacks caused by Daylight Saving Time. Dishonest reporting!
@realDonaldTrump The nation is sleep deprived. Daylight Saving Time doesn't help. Need more time in bed! Repeal DST!
@realDonaldTrump Less than 33% like Daylight Saving Time. The majority wants stable clocks. Pick a time and stick with it! Executive order!
@realDonaldTrump Daylight Saving Time increases depression in the fall. Repeal will decrease suicides. Stop DST!
@realDonaldTrump Traffic accidents will increase next week because of Daylight Saving Time. Must protect our streets! Repeal DST!
@realDonaldTrump Daylight Saving Time increases energy spending. Doesn't save money. Outrageous waste of time and effort! Stop DST!
@realDonaldTrump Farmers hate Daylight Saving Time. Why do we do it? Time for an executive order!
@realDonaldTrump China doesn't have Daylight Saving Time. Not even time zones. They are winning at everything! Stop DST now!
@realDonaldTrump Daylight Saving Time increases heart attacks in the spring. Unacceptable! Must come to a stop.
Finally, here are two bonus funny movies.
