Daylight Saving Time 2023

Daylight Saving time ends Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. Clocks will fall back one hour at 2 a.m. As we inch closer to the impending time change, the sun will start setting just a few minutes after 6 p.m. After the time change, the sun will start setting closer to 5 p.m.  

While Daylight Saving Time has been part and parcel of the United States for decades, few know the history behind its adoption or its quirky facts.  

The Uniform Time Act of 1966 created daylight saving time to help improve efficiency and coordination in the transportation industry. This act standardizes time within five existing time zones (Alaska, Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern) across the United States.  

Before the federal government enforced this act, Daylight Saving Time was primarily up to towns and cities to exercise their own discretion, whether to observe it or not. 

 Currently, Arizona and Hawaii are the only states in the U.S. that don’t follow Daylight Saving time. Arizona abandoned the practice in the 60s because an extra hour of sun meant the state would have to use more energy to keep homes cool in the heat. Many of the United States territories, Guam, American Samoa and Puerto Rico do not follow Daylight Saving time as well.  

Though the Daylight Saving idea wasn’t formally established until 1966, Benjamin Franklin suggested the practice in a satirical essay published in 1784. This idea was pitched to Parisians, who could save money, candles and lamp oil by changing their sleep schedule.  

The proper term is Daylight Saving time since the practice is to save daylight, but some people in the phrase and some people throw an S at the end of saving.  

Zachary Dart

Zach is a senior at Utah Valley University, He is majoring in political science with a minor in constitutional Studies. He loves the outdoors, cars and food.