Page 18 - IAV Digital Magazine #613

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
It’s about time to “fall back” — that is, to set our clocks back an hour and bring daylight sav- ing time to an end. While many enjoy the extra hour of sleep, the necessity of daylight saving time has often been ques- tioned and criticized. Yet leg- islative efforts to end the time change have stalled or been reversed. On the other hand, the period of daylight saving has occasionally been extend- ed, most recently in 2005.
Virginia Tech economic expert Jadrian Wooten discusses why the retail industries want to keep daylight saving time, the problems associated with it, and at least one justification for leaving it be.
“The retail industry still seems to be the biggest advocate for daylight saving time. They argue that extended evening daylight encourages people to
shop after work and boosts foot traffic. These benefits may not be as significant as they once were. With the increases in online shopping, extended daylight hours may not drive the same level of spending as they did in the past.”
“Given the disruptions to sleep patterns, health concerns, and even traffic accidents that come with the time change, many would argue that the energy savings simply aren’t enough to justify it anymore. People generally largely vote in favor of not changing clocks, and politicians have tried to push through bills picking day- light saving time or standard time and sticking with just one.”
“Many people would point to the health risks — heart attacks, strokes, and even workplace accidents — as the most serious, but these are
often concentrated among older people at risk for those health issues to begin with. You see similar increased health risks around major holi- days, but no one argues we should ban those. I’d argue that the spike in car accidents is particularly troubling, since it’s an increased risk for every- one on and near the road.”
“I’d argue that the most com- pelling economic justification may actually lie in its mental health benefits from maintain- ing more ‘average’ sunrise and sunset times across the year. These benefits are less obvi- ous than traditional metrics like spending, but they’re signifi- cant. Switching permanently to either standard time or daylight saving time would disadvan- tage either early risers or night owls, while the current system provides each group with ben- efits for half the year.”
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine