As spring approaches, many American citizens will also see more hours of daylight, due to the start of daylight saving time (DST).
Daylight saving time is the practice of setting the clock forward one hour, starting on the second Sunday in March, to take advantage of sunlight for longer.
Once the seasons change and winter approaches, clocks go back an hour, when most people in the United States sleep an extra hour.
When does daylight saving time start?
In the United States, daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday in March, which this year will fall on March 10.
On this day, clocks are set forward one hour at 2 a.m. local time for most American citizens.
Who follows daylight saving time?
In the United States, most states follow daylight saving time rules, with the exception of Arizona, the Navajo Indian Reservation and Hawaii, according to the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST).
The territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands also do not follow this practice.
Why do we follow daylight saving time?
The idea of daylight saving time was reportedly first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784. However, it was not uniformly implemented until 1966, when the Uniform Time Act was created, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. USA
Although there were previous periods when the US followed daylight saving time (including during World War II, when President Roosevelt instituted year-round daylight saving time called “war time”), the Uniform Time Act It required all states to follow a timetable decided by the four main time rules. zones and follow daylight saving time, unless the entire state has agreed to be exempt.
The Uniform Time Act also meant that all states would implement the time change at the same time.
In later years, the Department of Transportation hypothesized that daylight saving time could have a positive impact on violent crime rates, traffic safety, and energy conservation.
However, a later report found that there were minimal changes when daylight saving time was implemented.
Daylight saving time that the United States follows was not implemented until 2007, when it was decided that it would begin on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November.
Daylight saving time is now followed for 238 days of the year.
Do you have to manually change your clocks?
Most watches will update the time on their own. However, some appliance clocks may require the time to be updated manually.
Some watches may also have a DST on/off function that must be activated to change the time.
Will we always move the clocks for daylight saving time?
In recent years, the practice of daylight saving time has become increasingly unpopular, and several states have proposed bills to end the practice of changing clocks. In March 2022, the Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent in the United States. However, the bill still requires approval from the House and President Joe Biden to become law.
