Daylight saving time is a waste of time, even in Arizona. We can do more to stop it
Daylight saving time is an outdated waste of time, and Arizona lawmakers and members of the state’s congressional delegation should use their influence to fix the problems connected to the archaic practice of springing forward and falling back.
Most of Arizona ignores the practice of adjusting clocks twice a year, meaning people in Phoenix, a city and metropolitan area brimming with transplants and businesses that operate across state lines, get drawn into a time suck every March and November, explaining to grandmas, grandpas, best buddies and business associates that this time of year we’re on the same clock as Los Angeles, but the rest of the year we sync with Denver.
There’s a bipartisan bill that recently sailed through the U.S. Senate without opposition, the “Sunshine Protection Act,” that seeks to “make daylight (saving) time the new, permanent standard time. States with areas exempt from daylight (saving) time may choose the standard time for those areas.”
It’s a good start toward uniformity, and it could be especially helpful in Arizona – but only if state lawmakers come together to be sure it applies here, given the local protection elucidated in the federal legislation heading toward the U.S. House.
We've all had this chat with family
On a personal level, it’s frustrating to be forced into small talk over how backward Arizona is on an issue that’s long since been settled by most of the rest of the nation. It’s almost like a “Saturday Night Live” skit.
Us (speaking to family in the Midwest): “No, Mom, tell Dad we’re three hours behind you now, not two?”
Mom: “Really, why?”
Us: “Mom, we do this every year. Arizona doesn’t observe daylight saving time.”
Mom: “Hang on, let me tell your father … Honey, did you know Arizona doesn’t change its clocks?”
(Unidentified rustling and unintelligible mumbling.)
Dad: “Hello?”
Us: “Hey, Dad. Mom handed you the phone?”
Dad: “Yeah, what’s this about you all not changing your clocks? We just had to spring forward. I just figured out how to adjust the VCR, but nobody uses VCRs anymore. We don’t even have a video store. Do you all have video stores? I remember you used to work at a video store. You loved that job. I hate streaming.”
Us: “…”
It's even worse for business
On the business side, it’s mind-numbing to try to estimate how much productivity is lost by people who arrive for meetings an hour early or an hour late.
Out-of-state sales prospect (texting): “We’re in the Zoom. U coming?”
Us (dangerously answering a text message while driving): “You’re an hour early. It’s only 2 pm here.”
Out-of-state sales prospect (texting): “Oh. Can u jump in now? Have another meeting after this.”
Us (fully unprepared, but trying to hit quota): “Sure. I’ll pull over and Zoom from the shoulder of the freeway for an hour meeting with no notes. What could go wrong?”
If the Sunshine Protection Act passes the U.S. House, Arizona legislators need to be like their Navajo Nation counterparts and adopt daylight saving time. It would give us consistency by putting the entire state in the same time zone all year. We wouldn’t confuse people in other states (or ourselves) by shifting between the time in LA and the the time in Denver.
Do more than the Sunshine Protection Act
The congressional delegation, meanwhile, needs to go further than the Sunshine Protection Act and lead a push for a standard federal time zone that applies across the 50 states and five major territories.
It could be whatever time it needs to be locally for high school sports or birthday parties or doctor appointments. But when it comes to business, the meeting would be at, say, 10 a.m. National Business time. Think of it like the internationally recognized Greenwich Mean Time, but for U.S. businesses.
This is something Democrats (even the extremists like Bernie Sanders) and Republicans (except for the delusional, racist Trumpers) should have no problem agreeing on.
It would solve an actual problem, which should be the goal since the only purpose of government is to make our lives easier, and that’s not happening enough.
All too often, lawmakers are wasting time by pushing agendas, such as the distraction bills attempting to curtail important discussions on race in education, which are a shameful disgrace to intelligent people in Arizona and those who might consider moving here.
Daylight saving time is a waste of it
Democrats need to redirect the conversation by setting a helpful agenda, rather than reacting to Republican traps. For their part, Republicans need to quit being obstinate on progressive issues before they see their influence dwindle to nothing.
Arizona’s business community should get behind this, as well. But I don’t have confidence that industry leaders have enough sense to try to increase profits by making an easier pathway to productivity.
They’ve recently undercut the will of the people by overturning a voter-approved education funding plan, showing they have no qualms about wasting everyone’s time.
And, really, that’s all daylight saving time is, at this point, a waste of time.
Arizona lawmakers, its congressional delegation and its business leaders need to use their influence to fix that and end the productivity problems associated with the archaic practice of springing forward and falling back.
The Sunshine Protection Act is a good start, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough.
Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @SayingMoore.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Daylight saving time is a waste. Congress can do more to fix it
