Readers weigh in on daylight saving time

2023-03-11

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

We heard from more than 100 What's Next readers in response to our question: What do you think of the proposal — which passed the Senate this month — to make daylight saving time permanent, starting in 2023?

Your responses fell into four categories, and one was the clear winner:

By far, the largest number of people who responded said they'd like to stop changing the clocks back and forth — but they'd prefer to keep them permanently set on standard time, not daylight saving time.
The second-largest number of responses came from people who said, "No to permanent daylight saving time."
Nearly the same number of respondents — though just slightly fewer — said they'd vote "yes" to permanent daylight saving time.
A fourth category of reader said, in essence: "Pick one or the other and stick with it."

A handful of readers suggested splitting the difference and changing the clocks back and forth half an hour once or twice a year.

What you're saying:

"Standard time should be permanent. Let’s fall back now and stay there." — Mike Head
"Let’s make daylight savings permanent and get rid of this annoying and anachronistic clock change twice a year!" — Alex Kemp
"Permanent daylight savings time was tried during the Nixon administration. It sounded like a great idea, but in the end, was a miserable flop. The simple reason was that parents voiced concerns about their children standing more and more in the dark waiting for the school bus." — Jon F. Gasper
"I live in Texas. The sun doesn't come up until 8 a.m. now. Kids are going to school in the dark now. Permanent DST would be particularly horrible in the winter months for us. I understand the East coast has the opposite problem." — Myrna Grigsby
"Current surveys are missing the point. The vast majority of people want to stop changing our clocks twice a year. Some may prefer Daylight Savings Time and some may prefer Standard Time depending on whether they prefer more sun in the morning or evening. But the majority agrees that we should stop changing our clocks." — Jonathan Coon
"If you think about it, there are only two days a year people bitch about it and they get over it within a week or so. If a switch is made to permanent DST, people will be complaining about it for two months and still have nothing to look forward to in the spring." — Chuck Goonan

"I would prefer that we were on Standard time all year long. However, if Congress goes with permanent daylight savings, that is better than changing twice each year." — David Lias
"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! Don’t mess with Mother Nature and the natural order! How presumptuous of us. We should adapt to the rhythms of nature and physics, not the reverse." — Dave Stoller
"As a kid, I loved Daylight Savings because it meant spring was around the corner, and another sign that my beloved Phillies would be in first place (until they actually started playing real games). As an adult I grew weary of it. My first choice would be to stick with Standard Time." — Mark Israel

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