Daylight Savings: Is it Necessary?

Maycee Hurt, staff writer

As one may know, daylight savings time ended in early November. People have been arguing this issue for a while. Some don’t believe daylight savings is a necessary thing, but others enjoy the time change. 

With daylight savings, evenings are longer in the summers. This is a pro for most people considering that people enjoy being able to have the sun out for longer periods of time. Without this, the longer evenings wouldn’t exist. That means that people may not be as motivated to leave the house or have a more sedentary lifestyle. Also, there’s less artificial light. People’s active hours coincide with daylight hours, meaning there is less of a need for artificial light. Another pro is that longer evenings create a safer environment. Studies show that there are fewer pedestrians involved in accidents by thirteen percent with longer evenings and robberies decrease by seven percent after the spring shift to daylight savings time. 

On the other hand, there are a few cons on the side of daylight savings time. It doesn’t save energy. When daylight savings was first invented a century ago, the extra daylight was very helpful for being able to stay outdoors longer. But, in today’s society, more people use electronics. This means that energy is not being saved by the amount of computers, artificial lights, and phones being used constantly by the technological world we live in today. Not only does it not save energy anymore, people get sick from it. Our bodies are not used to the time changes when they come around, and it confuses the body and can make people sick. It can lead to the minor inconvenience of tiredness or more serious consequences, including depression from the early darkness, car accidents, workplace injuries, miscarriages, and even suicide.

In my opinion, I enjoy daylight savings. I love having the longer, brighter evenings in the summer although I hate how tired and unmotivated I feel in the winter. I believe that we should keep daylight savings in order to increase the safety in the summer and keep people active.