Daylight Saving Time. Ugh. Again? Already?

So this Sunday, March 11th, we get to do that annual swearing and complaining about Daylight Saving Time. I know every year in my house, it starts a conversation that lasts for about three days, where I get surly and angry over the fact that we have to engage in the utterly archaic, pointless task of moving the clocks around twice a year.

Maybe I get more angry because we're setting the clock forward, thereby causing the removal on one precious hour from my day. We let it slide in the fall because we love to feel like we're gaining an extra hour. To sleep, to play, to be awake...whatever you want. But when that teeny, tiny little hour is taken away from us again, I get right testy about it.

Why do we do it anyway? According to WebExhibits.org, the answer seems innocent enough:

"The main purpose of Daylight Saving Time (called "Summer Time" in many places in the world) is to make better use of daylight. We change our clocks during the summer months to move an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening."

Some folks think it saves energy as well. But considering this poll was in 1975, when nothing was even remotely energy efficient, does it still matter today? More from WebExhibit.org:

"Studies done by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 1975 showed that Daylight Saving Time trims the entire country's electricity usage by a small but significant amount, about one percent each day, because less electricity is used for lighting and appliances."

Urban legend has led us to believe many things about DST that just aren't true. According to History.com for instance, Ben Franklin did not invent it, nor was the United States the first country to use it. Germany was. Heck, we didn't even fully ratify it in this country until just about 100 years ago.

Most people also believed it was to benefit farmers. Not true! They were actually wildly opposed because it severely disrupted their day-to-day operations. Just because the sun came up earlier didn't mean the cows started milking any sooner. Trucks to transport the milk weren't showing up any later, etc. It was the retail world that pushed for longer days, so their stores to be open longer for more people to access.

And.... what ever happened to LD203? Maine, at one point, was working to eliminate DST. The only catch was that New Hampshire and Massachusetts also had to ratify it in their states. Near as I can tell from some fairly intense interweb sleuthing, that bill has basically been shelved, and who knows if they'll ever consider it important enough to come back to.

All I know, is come Saturday night when I got to bed, everything will seem right with the world. But when I get up Sunday morning, my three days of complaining and swearing about a stupid thing I cannot change, will begin. I bet I'll be able to hear you swearing from your house, too.