Twice a year, we readjust our clocks for daylight saving time. Luckily, most phones and computers make the change automatically, but this still leaves us going around our homes, resetting analog clocks and those on our appliances. But why do we do this, and is it really worth the hassle?
This year, the start of daylight saving time is Sunday, March 8. Daylight saving time was first introduced in the U.S. in 1918 as “a temporary wartime effort to save coal and oil.” The time change was then repealed in 1919, but some places continued to do it. This was until 1966, when the Uniform Time Act brought daylight saving time back nationwide, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
As of 2025, 70 countries observe DST. Exceptions include many countries near the equator, because their daylight hours do not vary as much throughout the year. In the U.S., 48 states use DST. Hawaii and Arizona are the two that do not. U.S. territories Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands also do not ever have to reset their clocks.
In March 2022, the U.S. Senate approved the Sunshine Protection Act. This act, if it had been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and then-President Joe Biden, would have made DST permanent as of November 2023. However, the House did not advance the bill, and it died.
Recently, the House and Senate have reintroduced the act, and Americans will just have to wait and see what happens with it.
A 2025 Gallup Poll showed that 24 percent of Americans prefer DST year-round, while 48 percent want it to always stay on standard time. Only 19 percent of people polled said they would keep the practice the way it is now.
Tell us what you think? Should the U.S. permanently instate DST, do away with it or keep things the way they are now?
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