Many Normanites sick of changing their clocks

Nov. 4—As clocks "fall back" once more, The Norman Transcript sought the community's opinion on the biannual time change.

Commenters on The Norman Transcript's Facebook page were overwhelmingly supportive of ending the bi — annual time change. Eleven respondents called for permanent daylight saving time, while eight called for permanent standard time. Three more respondents said they did not care what time format Oklahoma settles on, so long as it stays the same year-round.

In an informal poll conducted on The Transcript's X (formerly Twitter) page, 45% of respondents called for permanent standard time, 36% called for permanent daylight saving time and 19% said they would prefer to leave the system as it is now.

On Friday, Sen. Blake Stephens (R-Talehquah) introduced a bill to switch Oklahoma to permanent daylight saving time if Congress passes the federal Sunshine Protection Act, a bill with the same aims. The day before, Rep. Kevin West (R-Moore) announced to the public that he had conducted an interim study regarding the benefits of switching to permanent standard time.

Norman representative Jared Deck attended the meeting where West presented his findings. Deck said West made compelling points, but was also wary of the effects on commerce if Oklahoma switched to a year-round clock system but none of its neighbors did the same.

Deck does not currently consider switching to standard time to be a priority for his constituents.

"That said, if such a bill is presented, I would consider it seriously and critically as I would any bill," Deck said.

The benefit to switching to permanent daylight saving time is conserving an extra hour of sunlight in the evening year-round. According to Stephens, his business-owning constituents have told him the early sunsets in winter discourage customers from seeking their services. Last year, one business owner told Stephens that his business reduces their hours immediately when daylight saving ends.

"They cannot justify leaving doors open when there's nobody coming through the door to pay the bills," Stephens said.

Stephens believes the extra hour of sunlight when people are active in the evenings will combat seasonal depression and enable children to play outside longer. Some studies have also suggested that evening crime increases in standard time.

However, that extra hour of sunlight has to come from somewhere, and permanent daylight saving would mean dark mornings through the winter. Since the sun rises in the east, states in the western part of their time zones are particularly sensitive. If daylight saving time was permanent, the sunrise in Norman on Dec. 21 would occur at 8:35 a.m.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine supports permanent standard time. Standard time better reflects the movement of the sun, and the academy's research suggests it aligns better with when people naturally tend to go to sleep and wake up.

West also pointed out that the United States attempted to move to permanent daylight saving time for two years during the energy crisis, but public disapproval ended the experiment early.

As Stephens' bill relies on the passage of the Sunshine Protection Act, which does not yet have enough support in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Oklahoma legislature is not currently hearing any bills on a permanent switch to standard time, the community should expect to continue changing their clocks twice a year — at least for now.