MN Daylight Saving Time Bill Pushes Forward – But Is It A Good Idea?

There's a bill moving through the Minnesota legislature to do away with the whole "Spring Forward" and "Fall Back" we are accustomed to doing twice a year. You never hear anyone complaining about that "extra" hour of sleep in the Fall, but, come Spring, we're all feeling that "lost" hour. I know it takes me a few days to get in the swing of the new schedule, especially when we move the clocks ahead.

Daylight Saving Time has been credited to Benjamin Franklin, as a way to help conserve energy, especially in the warmer summer months, when the days are naturally longer. As I found out during my research, this may not be 100% accurate, at least as far as Franklin's involvement. You can read more about that here. DST was first used by Germany and Austria on a country-wide scale to avoid using artificial lighting and save energy for war efforts during WWI.

Now, the world has moved to an era where we are so much more energy conscious, we have better ways to use our resources for lighting and heating, not to mention cooling, that perhaps the time for Daylight Saving Time to end has come. I am all for moving to one time, not having to switch clocks back and forth twice a year, but, I would like to see it remain at Standard Time, NOT DST.

My reasoning? As many people have said, they like the extra daylight in the evening during the Summer season. Sure, that's great, but, in trade-off, the sun won't even come up until 8 am or so during the Winter. That's if we stay on DST. So, it may be darker earlier in the evening, but, you won't have kids out at the bus-stops in December when it's pitch black every morning. And, have you ever tried to get a teenager out of bed in the morning? If it's still dark out, they're not moving, without the threat of water poured over their heads or the loss of the cell phone. I don't want to have that argument with my child every single day during the Winter. And, I don't want to see children trying to walk to the bus stop or school when it's still technically, the middle of the night.

I realize that I am in the minority, at least with the people I have talked to, but, I would rather "Fall Back" in November, then leave the clocks there. In the Summer, when the sun doesn't set until about 9 pm with DST, we would have sunset around 8 pm with Standard Time, really is it that huge of a difference? You have an extra hour for those summertime bonfires.

Sources: Fox 9 News and WCCO News