Time After Time

“Until we master ourselves we have no proper use for time.”

H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) from
”Time After Time“ (1979)

Did you have trouble getting up and getting going this morning? Thought so. Seems like everyone I talked to had some difficulty adjusting to ‘spring forward.’

Even though I like the end result - the longer days - of Daylight Saving Time, I am not a fan of the switching process. Invariably, there is one clock we’ll forget about (I was driving around in my car late yesterday when I noticed the dash board clock was off by an hour). And in the fall, there is the added need – albeit a good one – to also switch out batteries in smoke detectors.

And then there is the general grogginess that comes on those dark mornings right after we spring forward. Seems like it takes a few days to adjust and that can be tough to do.

Of course, it doesn’t help that this year’s spring time change fell right after we had an extremely busy weekend. There was no opportunity to ease in to the shift which, technically, came at 2 a.m. Sunday.

I was reading up a little bit on the background of Daylight Saving Time. Some things I didn’t realize:

• The first proponent was actually Ben Franklin
• The first real experiment with DST was driven by World Wars I and II
• The practice was signed into law in 1966

Also, I had forgotten the current DST configuration dates just to 2005 when the DST time period was extended by a few weeks.

Still…even though folks are somewhat divided on whether they are fans of DST or Standard Time (at our house, I think it is a 50/50 split), I don’t know anyone who actually embraces the bi-annual change; no one seems to cruise right through Spring Forward (or Fall Back, for that matter) without a certain amount of grumpiness or, at the least, period of adjustment.

The twice-a-year grousing makes you wonder if this is really worth it all. Today, I was listening to an ABC radio news report on my evening commute that offered some interesting facts. Heart attacks increase during the week of this time change. So do accidents. 

As ol’ H.G. said in the movie, seems like we haven’t yet mastered time - at least not spring forward part.

I suppose, at least we should consider if there isn’t some way to ease the burden. Could we phase it in? Could we adopt one ‘standard’ time year-round? Or if we keep the same configuration, could it be timed to coincide with one of those helpful Monday holidays?

In the meantime, the best remedy is a good night’s sleep tonight and a little extra patience for us all.

Oh, and some extra caffeine tomorrow morning probably isn’t a bad idea either.

JG

Originally posted 3/11/2013