Daylight Saving Time

If you are like me, you try to stay aware of deadlines, appointments, holidays and upcoming family celebrations. Despite the fact that many of these special days occur on the same date each year, they tend to sneak up on us. One event that is sure to sneak up on millions of people this year is Daylight Saving Time. This annual ritual will begin on March 11 when millions of American's will "spring ahead" by turning their clocks forward one hour at 2:00 in the morning.

The idea of Daylight Saving Time has always centered on energy and economics. Thoughts about this concept date back to 1784 when Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay titled "An Economical Project" in which he talks about saving money by using natural light instead of artificial light, which at the time was provided by candles. He noticed that people would sleep until late in the morning after the sun had already been up for several hours. They would stay awake until long after the sun went down, having to rely on candlelight, all the while complaining about the cost of candle making supplies. Today, the purpose of Daylight Saving Time is to allow us to make better use of daylight hours and reduce the consumption of resources for powering lights and appliances we use in the dark hours. Some people are in favor of this practice and happily set their clocks ahead one hour in the spring and back one hour in the fall. Others are very much against it. There are arguments on both sides of the fence regarding how much money and resources are actually saved, how some industries are impacted by the time change and how our health and well being are affected by the time change.