The clocks are changing for daylight saving time (which I will refer to as DST, from here on in) here in my time zone this weekend, and as someone who absolutely fucking hates it, I thought I might get ahead of the rage I'm likely going to be feeling on Sunday morning and write about it before it has happened. At least for the sake of coherency. I'm still going to be a drama queen about it. It IS government-sponsored torture after all 😂.

I have to admit that I do have bias on this topic and it comes from a place of experiencing spring-onset seasonal depression. When most people are excited for the return of the season all the songs are about, my mood is being assaulted by the increasing light, rising temperatures, and the social smack in the face that comes from not sharing the same excitement as everyone else (but still enjoying the songs). Add in DST, and the universe might as well be screaming "SUFFER!" directly in my face.

So what exactly is the problem with DST, you may ask? I'll try to keep the hyperbole to a minimum as I explain it, but DST is bullshit.

It does not "save" or create daylight. It simply shifts it. In spring specifically, it takes the sunrise your body naturally adjusts to following the long winter and yeets it an hour later. Sure, it might only be an hour and not everyone is waking with the sun, but it has its impacts. Your circadian rhythm, which is an actual biological process and not just a vibe, is regulated by light hitting your eyes and signalling your brain to suppress or release melatonin. It doesn't give a shit about something that was decided upon in the early 1900s. It does what it's always done for millennia.

You know that thing that happens when you travel across multiple time zones? They may call it jetlag, but it happens with the DST time change too. No jets need. Like the jetlag we all know and hate, it can disrupt sleep, impair focus, disturb mood, and worse. Some studies have found spikes in heart attacks, strokes, traffic accidents, and serious psychiatric events following the time change. Particularly the spring one. The autumn one still sucks, but it's a return to what's biologically normal and gives us back the hour we "lost", so I can't be as mad about it.

For me, as someone also dealing with seasonal depression in the spring and summer months, this is major. My brain is already working overtime on regulating my mood in the face of something it doesn't like very much and although DST isn't the cause for that, it's fuel for the dumpster fire already burning in there.

We know it's damaging, but we do it anyway. But for what?

The original argument for DST was energy conservation, the idea being that extra light in the evening would reduce demand for artificial lighting. This was a dubious claim even when it was introduced because artificial light would be used less often in spring and summer anyway, as the days naturally got longer on their own. George Hudson, the New Zealander¹ who first suggested it, literally just wanted an extra hour to catch bugs after work. I'm all for the pursuit of autistic interests, but making it everyone else's problem is a real dick move.

Modern research has found no meaningful reason for DST to still be a thing, yet here we are. It's 2026 and we're still "springing forward" like it's somehow a good thing. The only thing it's actually good for is giving the summer-lovin' weirdos a fixed point in time to start getting excited, even though long summer nights will still happen regardless of any man-made change. Oh, and capitalism, I guess. Golf courses and BBQ companies love DST, because that "extra hour" comes early, giving them more time to make their money.

The most frustrating thing is that governments know it's essentially useless AND harmful, but have done little to nothing about it anyway. The EU voted to get rid of it back in 2019 and then collectively shrugged and blamed COVID for no follow-up. The US Senate passed a bill to make DST permanent in 2022 (contrary to advice from scientists to keep standard time, but permanent DST is still better than shifting), but the House killed it. Sure, we have far bigger problems to worry about, but this feels like something that could be fixed in an instant.

I really don't think I'm asking for much here. I just want the clock to stay in line with the sun and my circadian rhythm so my brain can do its job without entirely unnecessary external interference from the result of governments taking hundred year-old advice from some dude who liked bugs. Want more light in the evening for your hobbies? Go to work an hour earlier, or better yet, lobby for shorter work days in summer. That makes a hell of a lot more sense than forcing jetlag on everyone.