Are You For or Against Daylight Saving Time?

0:00Bray and Lairr on WNYC and to wrap up the show. On this Monday after we moved the clocks ahead or they moved us ahead, we will do an informal and official thoroughly unscientific call and poll on whether you are for daylight saving time year round, standard time year round, or keep the rotation the way it is. 212-433-WNYC, call or text, 212-433-9692. Would you prefer 12 month of the year, daylight saving time, 12 month of the year, standard time? I know people have opinions about this, or keep it the way it is, going back and forth. And how do either of these things, standard time or daylight saving time, or just the fact of the change twice a year, affect you personally?

1:03Does it affect you the night of, week of, or even for a longer stretch of time after the clocks change, or, you know, are you affected personally because you don't like the way it is in the winter. One like the way it is in the summer, whatever, 212-433-9692, an informal and official thoroughly unscientific Ryan Lairt Show calling poll on whether you would vote, and Congress is actually looking at a proposal, we'll get into that a little bit. But are you for year round, daylight saving time, year round, standard time, or keep the rotation kind of the way it is, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692? There was a scientific poll last year, a Gallup poll, found 54% of Americans want to see the end of saving time, 48% preferred standard time all year round, 48% of those 54%

2:1024%, only 24% as I'm losing you in this blizzard of numbers, I know, only 24% wanted permanent daylight saving time, 48% twice as much, preferred standard time all year. So if you are in either of those camps, tell us why, two bills in Congress are apparently getting some traction, earlier this month, Representative Greg Stubi of Florida introduced the Daylight Act of 2026, that one proposes splitting the difference, instead of a twice yearly change of one hour each time, it would shift U.S. time zones forward 30 minutes from the current standard time and leave them there permanently, according to U.S.A. today's description of the bill, so that is literally splitting the difference, move the clocks forward from standard time to half hour and leave them there all year round.

3:15There's also a reintroduction of another act by Representative Celeste Malloy Republican of Utah, which would allow the states to decide, if they want to observe daylight saving time, there are a few exceptions right now where they don't, but basically it's a national thing. Some people bring up being out of circadian rhythm, your circadian rhythms are thrown off by having the sun come up too late, which is a daylight savings time thing, at least part of the year, under daylight savings time, so you don't get enough sleep, and then you don't get enough sleep on the back end because the sun is up too late, and your body doesn't start to wind down because of the darkness in the way that it should, so that's one of the arguments against more daylight savings time, but I know you probably don't

4:16want the sun to come up at 3.30 in the morning either, as it would in New York if we kept standard time to year round, so all right, a lot of people are calling in, a lot of people are texting, let's see where this informal unofficial thoroughly unscientific poll winds up, daylight saving time year round, standard time year round, split the difference with this 30 minute thing from Congress, or keep the rotation the way it is, we'll take your calls and text right after this. Dr. Miller on WNYC, standard time year round, daylight saving time year round, keep the rotation the way it is, and also how the actual changing of the time in the fall and the spring like this weekend affects you personally. The reason Brooklyn you're on WNYC, hi Louise. Hi Brian, good morning, I am very negatively affected by these times change, and I would

5:20prefer if they would keep it at standard time. Now I don't know if I'm remembering this correctly, but I've seen to think that years ago they tested out keeping daylight saving time year round, and they didn't pursue that because they said it was too dark in the morning when kids were going to school, and it was dangerous that they were accidents at bus stops and things like that, and then they went, they never pursued it. And I thought there was something in Congress a few years ago about keeping one of them standard or daylight saving time, something like around 2024 or 2025, and we never heard anything about it again. I guess that's the one that I was referring to, oh, the one many years ago, I don't know, but what you bring up is certainly what a lot of people bring up, that it would be still dark for a part of the year at eight o'clock, maybe eight thirty, when you're trying to

6:26get kids to school, and that's not good for their mental health as well as the risk of crashes that are physically dangerous to the kids. The bill that's currently before Congress, as I mentioned before, proposes doing away with daylight saving time and splitting the difference, thirty minutes ahead of standard time and just keep it there year round. Terry and Manhattan might like that idea. Terry on WNYC, hello. I hate you doing. Yeah, I'm a morning runner, so when we set the clocks ahead this early in March, you know, you're running in the dark, which I don't like, and it's funny because for me, my personal preference, though I understand this may not be the best for the world, would be daylight saving time all you around because I'm an evening runner. And by the time I finished work in a lot of months of the year, it's too late where if

7:26there was another hour of daylight, I could go out there, but, but I hear you take ahead. But, you know, also I don't like, I get up around five thirty in the morning and I don't like waking up in the dark and, you know, even if I'm an early riser, I don't like it's still being dark as it is now until about seven. But, you know, I think so, one way you could split the difference, right, is to go back to the pre-1974 change dates because prior to 1974, you bring a box ahead on March 31st and turn them back on October 27th. Now we do early March and November 30th, so we extended daylight saving time by about two months. And the result of that is, in March, you have these really, really dark mornings, you know. And, and sort of the same thing in November, so maybe that's the way we split the difference. Go back to the pre-1974.

8:27Terry, thank you very much. Yeah, here's that thing that Louise was referring to. We just looked it up. Yes, America tried this before, and the country hated it, because Terry was bringing this up too. It says in the early 1970s, America was facing an energy crisis, so the government tried an experiment. Congress passed a law to make daylight saving time permanent year-round, but just for two years, the thinking was more sunlight in the evening would reduce the nation's energy consumption, but apparently became very unpopular quickly. The story continues, Americans do not like changing their clocks, but they disliked even more going to work and school in the dark. For months, the price the nation had to pay for more sunlight in winter evenings. Now about Rodron and TanaFly, your aunt WNYC, hi, Rodron. Hi, Brian, I think it's like in my call, are you? Good. So, my opinion about this is basically, I'm for it, because I think it's good to be

9:39pushed sometimes and to something that disrupts our routine. You don't always need to always look for convenience, because I think it's not a very good way to go to my life, even for kids. You know, we have to adjust to this one hour difference twice a year is a good little disruption, because it breaks us out of our routines, is that what you're saying? Yeah, exactly. I think it pushes us to collectively think of the changes, adapt, yes, you're going to lose some sleep, but it's one of the challenges, you know, one of the small challenges of life. Ah, interesting. Then what do you think about this? You might like this from another listener in the text that goes even further than you, I think, in the same direction. Listener wrote, keep as is, but make the change at 2 p.m. instead of 2 a.m. So everyone can celebrate the change. Oh, wow.

10:40That's exactly what I'll actually understand. You know, to me, it doesn't matter, but definitely it's a good, small lesson to teach kids as they grow up, because I care for another country. I'm an immigrant. I'm come from Morocco, and I notice people when we, you know, they're the big difference, because I think in this country, most people will always look for convenience. Like if there is no air conditioning, it's a big problem. Yes. On the country you're not. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Again, we appreciate your call. Ah, let's see. Here's another text where to go. Um, daylight saving is rough. I think whoever is responsible for letting it continue should run small children's bedtime and morning routines after the time change, and then decide whether the keeping, keeping the status quo is good for America. That seems to be where a lot of our listeners are landing, actually.

11:42So let's finish up with Leon Staten Island, Lee around WNYC. Hello. Hi, Brian. How are you? Good. Real quick. What you got? Okay. I'm in favor of the current system, but if it was going to go to one or the other all year, I would prefer a regular standard time. Because? And because of what was said earlier by the call from Manhattan, because of the people that have to go to work early in the children on the bus stop. Lee, thank you for your call. Thanks to all of you for weighing in on standard time, daylight saving time, keep it the way it is, move it a half hour, celebrate it at 2 p.m. So everybody can go, we were changing something. Instead of 2 a.m. And that's the brain that I'll show for today, produced by Lisa Allison Mary Croke, the Minnesota College Boys' Rod, and Esperanza Rosenbaum, with our spring interns, Arlo Bivens, and Jack Walker, Julianna Fonda, and Milton Ruiz at the Audio Controls.

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