Students on campus reacted to this weekend possibly being the last time the clocks turn back an hour for daylight saving time.
The Sunshine Protection Act (bill S.623), passed by the U.S. Senate in March 2022, would make daylight saving time permanent in the U.S. starting Nov. 5, 2023, excluding states that already use standard time.
In other words, the U.S. would abandon the practice of changing our clocks twice a year, “springing forward” in March and staying there, according to the bill.
The House of Representatives has yet to vote on the bill.
BYU freshman Claire Cowden said she had never heard of the bill, but making daylight saving time permanent would not be a bad thing.
“I don’t feel like there’s a huge point to daylight saving,” Cowden said. “But I feel like that would be fine.”
She said she thinks the bill would make things more consistent and normal year-round, but that she does not mind either way.
“It’s just that I don’t understand daylight saving,” Cowden said.
Kaden Benzley is also a freshman who not heard of the bill.
“It’ll stay lighter later, right?” Benzely said. “That’s cool with me.”
He said he did not know much about daylight saving time and feels indifferent to the change.
“I don’t know why it was there in the first place,” Benzley said.
Harriet Parkinson is a freshman studying urban planning. She said she understands the bill to mean things will be what they are right now, before the clocks change on Sunday.
Parkinson thinks there are pros and cons to the bill.
“I always like when we begin daylight savings because it’s lighter again in the mornings, and I’m happier when I wake up,” Parkinson said.
She said in high school, she felt safer biking or walking to school in the morning when it was lighter.
Permanent daylight saving time would make the winter months darker in the mornings.
“I feel like a lot of people hate daylight savings, but I’m okay with it,” Parkinson said.
