Why do we need to turn back the clocks?

Answer 1

Everyone i have read is WRONG, so far...

The clocks move the accommodate the farmers... not that townies think much of them.

A farmer has to be able to work in largely daylight to see... and without the clock changed their days would get more difficult as the seasons progress as most dairy farmers have to be awake and working at 5-6am.

So thats why...

In a nutshell its to help farmers.

Answer 2

It started during world war 2 to save energy. The military was using too much energy so they set the clocks back. The farmers loved it because they had more time to farm, and parents loved it because they didnt have to walk to school in the dark but others hated it. Some states such as Arizona don't turn their clocks back because they want it to get dark earlier because of the outrageous heat. Thats all I know about that.

Answer 3

These days, the real reason that we have Daylight Saving Time in the summer is very simple. As the name suggests, it is to save daylight.

Most people get up between 06:00 and 08:00 and go to bed at between 22:00 and 00:00. If in the summer, it gets light at 04:00 and gets dark at say 20:00 and very few people are up at 04:00 to enjoy the daylight but most are up at 20:00 where they could use it, wouldn't it make sense to move an hour of light from the morning to the evening?

So that's why they put the clocks forward, so that 05:00 becomes 06:00 and 20:00 becomes 21:00 - so it's light an hour longer in the evening.

In the winter, it's dark both when we get up and when we go to bed, so there's not much point in doing it, but because most people prefer to wake up in daylight, we put the hour of light back in the winter so that it's lighter in the morning.

Makes sense to me.

Answer 4

Actually, the turning back of the clocks in October is not Daylight savings time, it is Standard time. When we move them forward in the Spring, that is Daylight Savings time (DST).

DST was first mentioned in 1784 by Benjamin Franklin in a letter to the editors of the Journal of Paris. However, as the satirical article was humorous, it is extremely clear Franklin could not seriously propose that the French adopt it. The mere suggestion that a tax be levied on those who have their shades drawn during daylight hours, or simply that people should get up and go to bed earlier is ludicrous.

It was first seriously proposed by William Willett in the "Waste of Daylight", published in 1907, but he was unable to get the British government to adopt it, despite considerable lobbying.

The idea of DST was first put into practice by the German government during the First World War, between April 30, 1916 and October 1, 1916. Shortly afterward, the United Kingdom followed suit, first adopting it between May 21 and October 1, 1916. On June 17, 1917 Newfoundland became the first North American jurisdiction to adopt DST with the passing of the Daylight Saving Act of 1917. On March 19, 1918, the U.S. Congress formally established several time zones, which had been in use by railroads and most cities since 1883; at the same time they made DST official, effective March 31, for the remainder of World War I.

DST commonly begins in the northern hemisphere on the last Sunday in March or the first Sunday in April, and ends on the last Sunday in October. However, due to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, beginning in 2007, the United States will begin observing DST from the second Sunday in March until the first Sunday in November. (Studies will determine if this remains permanent.) Most of Canada will also observe the new period to avoid economic losses of transporation confusion with the United States. Since 2002, the European Union has fixed the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October as start and end dates (European Summer Time).

Answer 5

There is no real reason to do it anymore. India and Japan are industrialised nations too, with a lot of farming going on there, but they don't mess with the clocks, and manage fine. However, their sunsets are very early in summer. I love those long summer evenings in Europe. I've really been homesick for them ever since I began working in Japan, where the sun　sets at 7.00 p.m. on the longest day.
Personally, I couldn't care less when the sun　rises, but　Ｉ care when it sets.
But there are people who are the opposite, so just enjoy the daylight you get!

Answer 6

I thought it was originally done to help farmers. They have more light in the morning by changing the clocks. As time has gone on though, it seems that one of the strong arguments for continuing to change the clocks, is the safety of children going to school in the mornings. I personally like the dark nights because I think they are cosy.

Answer 7

We don't actually "need" to.

It is supposed to be to help us use less electricity for lighting our homes and business during the time of year whan there is more daylight available.

So we move our clocks ahead on hour in the Spring and move them back one hour in the Fall.

The closer you get to the equator, the less you have of a change in the amount of daylight, so there is less of a "need" to change the clocks.

As far as I know, only two states in the U.S. do NOT use D.S.T.,
Hawaii (they don't need it) and Arizona (They don't want it.)

States in the U.S. have two choices. Use it or don't use it.
If they use it, they MUST use the U.S. standard for the date of the changes and the amout of time to change. (1 hour)

Almost all of the continent of Africa has NEVER used daylight saving time, and about half of the continent of South America
has NEVER used daylight saving time.

The Germans were the first to use a form of daylight saving time starting in World War One. The United States officially adopted the practice in 1918.

Answer 8

Because if we only turned them forward, we'd end up having lunch at midnight!

Seriously, there has been a lot of argument about this. It's reckoned to lead to dozens of deaths of children walking home from school (more walk home than walk to school). But apparently constantly being an hour ahead isn't fair on dairy farmers etc who have to get up early - though I've never really understood why. After all, if it gets light an hour earlier then it gets dark an hour earlier too - you can't change the total amount of daylight!

Some of the arguments AGAINST doing it are set out below.

Answer 9

Daylight Saving Time was instituted in the United States during World War I in order to save energy for war production by taking advantage of the later hours of daylight between April and October. During World War II the federal government again required the states to observe the time change. Between the wars and after World War II, states and communities chose whether or not to observe Daylight Saving Time. In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act which standardized the length of Daylight Saving Time.

I don't see the point in it now.

Answer 10

I like the way they say "some moron" invented daylight savings time....it was Benjamin Franklin - fools!

Anyway, the original reason was so that farmers could have more light during waking hours to tend to crops.

Today, it's been adjusted by the real moron (Bush) to allow more time for business communications (supposedly).

It's a pain in the ****, but farmers used to rely on it to allow them that extra daylight time.