Daylight savings may be ending, and a bill changing it is being reviewed currently. Get ready to be permanently on daylight savings time, which means the sun is going to go down earlier all year. This bill removes us from standard time and puts us on daylight savings time. This may not be as big of a deal in the summer months where the sun naturally is out longer, but it may cause problems in the winter months. The change during fall is appreciated, but the sun in the morning naturally goes away as winter progresses anyways, so the change is short-lived. Mornings then are dark anyways and it gets dark earlier in the afternoon. 

Students at Bingham have mixed responses when it comes to daylight savings. While daylight savings can be a nuisance, it is also what most people are familiar with. “It could also cause some confusion for a while since people are used to having daylight savings time as a regular part of their lives,” says senior student Cienna. “The few days following the start and end of daylight savings can be challenging because peoples schedules are altered by an hour, which throws off a lot of people’s internal clocks.” Daylight savings throws people’s sleep schedules off and makes going to school and learning properly harder because of it. 

Accidents spike the first few days after daylight saving time changes, too, rising 16% on the first day and 13% the second (Robb D, Barnes T. Accident rates and the impact of daylight saving time transitions), proving how much it affects our lives, especially negatively. I asked students what positive outcomes they could see from the changes in time, and the results were scarce. One student says, “I like daylight savings spring forward (when time gets pushed forwards an hour in spring) because I usually stay up and wake up later, so it is darker during the times I am usually sleeping during spring forward.”

The bill is being looked over by congress currently, and once approved there it will then need to be approved by the states in the plan: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Once that happens they will wait until the next fall back and stay in that time. It will impact everyone in those states. Student opinions are very neutral about the bill. Most do not care, one even saying, “I am neutral on whether or not to pass the bill. I think that it could be convenient for many people to end daylight savings time. However, I think it could also cause some confusion for a while since people are used to having daylight savings time as a regular part of their lives.” One student approves of the bill, saying, “I believe the bill will get rid of a system that is a relic of the past.”

There is no set date on when the bill will be approved, just know that there may be big changes around the corner.