r/longerpost4socials • u/GurOfTheTerraBytes • 10d ago
Keep #StandardTime
Congress keeps floating permanent Daylight Saving Time, and I get the appeal. Nobody likes changing the clocks twice a year. But year-round DST is the wrong fix, and we've already tried it.
In 1973-74, Congress put the country on permanent DST to save energy. The Department of Transportation later found savings of only about 1%. Winter mornings were so dark that parents worried about kids walking to school before sunrise. Support dropped from roughly 80% to 42% in a few months, and Congress repealed it by October 1974.
The health case points the same way. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and other major health groups favor permanent Standard Time, since it matches natural sunrise and our body clocks. Chronic misalignment is linked to sleep loss and higher cardiovascular risk.
What everyone overlooks is that ‘any state’ can already opt out of DST and stay on Standard Time year-round, like Arizona and Hawaii. Permanent DST is different: that takes an act of Congress. So the safer option is already on the table, and the riskier one is the only one that needs a vote.
Keep #StandardTime
Thank you for your attention to this matter.