From the early days of Benjamin Franklin to World War I, daylight saving time has occurred twice every year by setting clocks forward and backward one hour to save light.
Questions about whether daylight saving has relevance today are being faced by Utah’s legislature.
A bill, H.B. 197, is the latest version the Utah State Capitol has offered to solve the problem of daylight saving. The bill would allow the Governor’s Office of Economic Development to open a meeting to debate whether to keep the system in place or shift to Mountain Standard Time year-round.
The debate is still up in the air, but if Utah does choose to drop daylight saving time the clocks will no longer jump forward and we get to keep a lost hour of time.
Stumped on what to do with the extra 60 minutes this spring? Here are five tips on what to do with the time:
- Sleep. Let’s be honest, we’re all going to do it. As hard-working college students, sleep time is extremely valuable and many will agree that any additional minutes used for snoozing is time well spent.
- Homework. It’s been stacking up for days. Now you finally have that spare time you’ve been dreaming of to cram for tests or make tight deadlines. If you’ve got no homework, maybe chores around the house will fill those extra minutes.
- Catch up with people. If you’ve been so busy that your status is “hermit,” then I think it’s time to seize the moment and catch up with friends. Maybe you can get to know friendly strangers or even spend quality time with your significant other. Either way, use the time to get to know the people in your life.
- Do the small things you never have time to do. It’s the moment to do the little things that slip your mind. Try to floss or find matching socks in the morning. Update your Facebook page or replace the batteries in your smoke detector. Don’t worry, you’ll still have 55 minutes left to do more important things.
- Relax. And I mean really relax. You’ve been granted a marvelous extra 60 minutes to indulge in some “you” time. You can meditate and reflect on your life. Or you can take a really long shower and watch Netflix ’till it’s over. Either way, you can use the time to enjoy yourself.
Utah residents will now have the opportunity to express their views on daylight saving July 10 at Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City. This public debate will be open to anyone interested to decide whether or not Utah should become the third state behind Arizona and Hawaii to drop daylight saving time.
Until then, whether you gain or lose an hour this spring, those glass-half-full kinds of people would encourage you to make the most of any day, especially days with a full 24 hours.
