Do you know the true origin story of daylight saving time?
By Mike Sullivan, WBZ-TV
NATICK -- There's an origin story of daylight saving time that we all seem to know, but is it even true?
It's common to hear farmers are the reason for it. But the farmers didn't support daylight saving time in 1918 when the United States adopted it, and today they still do not need it.
"It really is all about when it is sunlight," explained Belkin Lookout Farm Operations Manager Jay Mofenson. "We may pick up some additional light at the end of the afternoon but at that time a lot of times it's really hot."
If it's not for farmers, then who?
The idea was authored by Ben Franklin. "He suggests that Parisians could save a lot of money on candles if they got up earlier in the morning than sleeping until noon," explained Suffolk University history professor Robert Allison.
So it's about energy efficiency.
"It is really an idea adopted during the First World War to save energy for the war effort," Allison said.
An extra hour outside meant less time inside with the lights on, less money spent on fuel or electricity.
"That is why it is daylight saving or savings."
Allison said Germany started the frugal following. But "of course, here in the United States you are not going to say hey is a great idea the Germans have, let's adopt it," he explained.
In 1918, it was easier to spread a different narrative and let the truth get lost in time.
"Now, it is just you may get an extra hour of golf in," said Robert Bain.
Turning back the clocks may be the bane of Bain's existence. He's a specialist at Baystate Clock in Brookline, where they often show people how to change their clocks.
"Most of the antique ones you can't turn back," he explained. "They just really never thought about it."
Instead, you have to push them forward hour by hour.
"It's a real pain in the neck, but it's what you gotta do," Bain said.
He believes the need for changing the clocks may go extinct soon -- and he's not alone.
With cell phones, computers, and video games, what energy are we saving?
"Nothing really," one person told WBZ-TV. "I feel like it's a fake hour," another said.
So far, two states have abolished daylight saving time: Arizona and Hawaii.
"I think it creates confusion some people doing one way some doing another," said Mofenson.
Enter: the Sunlight Protection Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Ed Markey.
The bill would end standard time, making daylight saving the permanent time nationwide. It unanimously passed the US Senate in March 2022, but did not clear the House. The bill has not been brought back up by Congress in 2023.
