“Daylight Saving Time (DST) is a change in the standard time with the purpose of making better use of daylight and conserving energy” (Text 1, 1-2). DTS produces many advantages for the American people. They use time to their advantage as they manipulate it to fit their daily needs. “An advantage of daylight savings time is the ability to reduce exposure to artificial lighting, which is the use of lamps and light fixtures. It is valuable to provide the correct light intensity and color spectrum for each task or environment” (Text 2, 1-3).
Daylight has the ability to influence and reduce headache frequency, stress, and increased blood pressure with the increase of higher artificial lighting levels. Over-illumination can lead to adverse health and psychological effects throughout the American people. Therefore, the reduction of artificial lighting in people’s homes, affecting their eyes, is a great improvement. These are very important influences and effects that American should be thankful for. This proves that Daylight Saving Time is very helpful towards the health of humans. Through this adaptation, humans can work, study, and live their daytime with daylight without straining their eyesight.
Apart from being healthier, it is safer. American students and workers will not be commuting in the dark. Despite the safety and benefits of DST, many people reject it due to the amount of effort and “rescheduling”. Americans should be able to accommodate to an hour change if they want to be healthier and safer. Hopefully, by the time students are walking out to take the school bus in the morning the sun has risen; likewise, when students are returning home they will have time finish a good amount of their homework with daylight shining into their room through windows. Daylight Saving Time reduces crime in America.
More light in the evening decreases the opportunity for street crime against people returning home from work. “…more light in the evening decreases the opportunity for street crime against study from people returning home from work. The Department of Transportation found that violent crime in Washington, D.C., was reduced by 10 to 13 percent during periods of daylight saving time…” (Text 3, 46-47). Criminals are cowards, they will not strike in daylight. As stated before, commuters will not have to worry in the mornings about the dangers lurking in the dark areas of alleyways or subways.
Not only is DST very important and impactful toward human health, it is also improving economic growth. DST is reducing “energy consumption, and this has been the major impetus for numerous countries to adopt DST. Because factories, businesses, and government offices, among others, often open at a time when the sun has already risen but do not close until after sunset, a clock advance of one hour allows them to save significant energy for lighting” (Text 3, 1-5). DTS, logically, also reduces the daily electricity production.
Without DTS, humans would use lamps and ceiling lights in the morning and evening instead of only in the evening. In moving the time of the most common wake up time to the new sunrise, it reduces the need for electricity. The Department of Transportation concluded that the total electricity savings associated with DST amounted to “about one percent in spring and fall, corresponding to national savings of forty to fifty megawatt hours per day” (Text 3, 11-14). Therefore, DST is positively improving the economy and environment with the reduction of electricity.
In conclusion, Daylight Saving Time is scheduled for the improvement and well-being of Americans. Americans should be more open to DST because the positives outweigh the negatives. Americans should learn to accommodate to such changes for their future and the future of American progression. The health of Americans is improved while in minor effects, but widespread throughout the country. Not only is the physical health improved but so is the emotional. No one wants to spend their large part of the year starting and ending their days in total and complete darkness.
The safety in American streets is increased as daylight shines on even the darkest of alleyways. The American citizens are also enjoying the money saved from the electricity bill. Finally, Daylight Saving is used by many countries, therefore it is only logical that America, as a first world country, should embrace DST. How can we be a progressive, first-world, industry-fueled country without using the advantages of Daylight Saving Time to better our nation and its citizens’ lives.