Hot Take of the Day: Ban Daylight Savings Time

Look, I’m a big Benjamin Franklin guy, but this guy’s got it wrong about Daylight Savings time. He just does.

I know, I know: common misconception that he invented the thing. I know he did. But he conceived of the idea, wrote an essay suggesting something of the like, and voila, people (eventually) implemented it.

This guy!

I get the idea, really — to make better use of daylight. And I’ll admit, it’s smart. But you know what we don’t really need in the year of our Lord, 2020? More daylight. We have screen time. We have Netflix and Amazon and HBO Go. We do not need more daylight.

No, what we need is more sleep. I don’t care if it gets dark when I’m going to lunch at noon. It’s absolutely bonkers to implement a complete schedule upheaval once a year because some old man long ago had an idea. It’s like if we just wrapped everyone in swaddles for the first 20 years of their life because King Tut thought it was comfortable and good for brain development.

Get outta here!

States have even voted to ban daylight savings time, passing legislation to maintain daylight savings time year-round. Good for them. It’s long overdue. If I can vote for the next president, I should be able to vote when the sun comes up and goes down. That’s just science.

So ban daylight savings time forever and ever. Ben Franklin’s got bifocals and the lightning rod, among other things, that he can stake his claim to fame for. Daylight savings time inception, however useful and energy-saving it may be theoretically, should not be one of them.