It’s time to Spring forward

It’s that time of year again. At 2 a.m. March 12, it will be time to change clocks to observe daylight saving time. 

The change means daylight at the height of summer will be extended past 9 p.m. in Central Indiana. For that reason, Ball State University junior Kennisha Patton said she would prefer daylights savings time to be permanent.  

“I feel more productive and encouraged to get more work done when it is light most of the day. When it is mostly dark, I want to just lay down and sleep which then makes me feel guilty about not doing any schoolwork,” Patton said. 

Daylight saving time was first introduced in the U.S. in 1918. The change was observed for seven months between 1918 and 1919 before being repealed at the end of World War I. Thereafter, switching time was left up to the states. During World War II, daylight saving time was instituted year-round from 1942 to 1945. 

From 1945 to 1966, states and localities were free to choose whether they would observe daylight saving time, which caused confusion in many industries, including in broadcasting, railroads and transportation. 

Congress tried to address the inconsistencies when it enacted the Uniform Time Act in 1986, which meant daylight saving time would start the last Sunday in April and end the last Sunday in October. But individual states could pass legislation to exempt themselves, which Indiana did. 

Most of the Hoosier state did not observe daylight saving time, which meant most of the state was on the same time as New York in the colder months and on the same time with Chicago in the warmer months. 

The Indiana General Assembly voted to observe daylight saving time in 2004. 
Today daylight saving time is observed from the second Sunday in March and to the first Sunday in November, despite years of attempts to eliminate the time change all together.  

In March 2021, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida introduced the Sunshine Protection Act, which would end the practice of changing clocks twice a year and would make daylight saving time the new permanent standard time for most states. The bill was unanimously passed in the Senate however, it died in the House.  

Rubio reintroduced the Sunshine Protection Act last week on March 2, saying in a statement that the “ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid.”  

There are different opinions surrounding the topic of the time change but Patton, said it is difficult for her to get used to the biannual time. “It feels like my body has to get used to a new schedule, even though there is only a one-hour difference,” she said. 

It is hard to determine the fate of the Sunshine Protection Act of 2023 but until then, remember to change your clocks forward an hour this Sunday. 

Contact staff writer Timoria Cunningham at 317-762-7854 or timoriac@indyrecorder.com. Follow her on Twitter @_timoriac.  
 

The post It’s time to Spring forward appeared first on Indianapolis Recorder.