2 weeks Ago
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are suggesting the country stop its biannual ritual of falling back and springing forward – advocating a permanent end to time changes in a move that has garnered broad support in the past. In a series of posts on X last week, both entrepreneurs called for the US to stop changing its clocks twice a year, with Musk declaring Americans want their country to “abolish the annoying time changes!” and Ramaswamy describing the century-old practice as “inefficient & easy to change.” It’s unclear how seriously the two men are taking this push and whether they intend to make stopping time changes a priority for their newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, which President-elect Donald Trump has tasked with overhauling how the government operates and identifying and making recommendations to eliminate processes or programs deemed redundant.
While other objectives floated by Musk and Ramaswamy for their department to tackle have been criticized as unwieldy or not possible, the semi-annual clock change is a tradition that has lost its appeal to many voters, polls have shown. And the change, if enacted, would be the most sweepingly impactful recommendation floated by Musk and Ramaswamy yet, affecting how hundreds of millions of people start and end their days. It’s also an idea that some key members of Trump’s incoming administration and the Republican Senate caucus have vocally supported for years.
But some experts say the suggestion of sweeping changes resulting from a possible elimination of clock changes is overblown. “I think this is really an argument between morning people and nighttime people,” said Dr. Jadrian Wooten, a collegiate associate professor at Virginia Tech’s Department of Economics who has studied the risk and benefits of Daylight Saving Time.
The benefits espoused by people who prefer more light in the morning could inversely be true for the same as those who prefer more light later in the afternoon. For each study that shows a positive one way, another study can show one for the other. There are three different camps in the debate.
One argues for leaving the time changes as they currently are, with most of the country changing their clocks forward in March and back in November. This approach attempts to balance the amount of sunlight people receive on any given day and strikes a compromise between those who prefer more sunlight in the morning and those who prefer more in the evening; each group gets their preference at different points in the year. It’s the Goldilocks solution.
The second advocates for a permanent standard time, keeping the clocks as they are from November to March year-round. This would lead to parts of the country experiencing earlier sunrises and sunsets than they usually do during those five months – leaving more light in the morning and less in the evening. This approach is supported by medical groups and professionals who say it most closely aligns with the body’s natural circadian rhythm.
“If you get too much light too late in the evening, it disrupts your sleep, and we are essentially creating a months-long environment in which we are actually receiving light at a time that is later in the day than is optimal for our health,” said Dr. Adam Spira, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who studies the benefits of healthy sleep habits. “We’re already a sleep-deprived society,” Spira said, “and we’re making it harder for people to fall asleep.
” This approach also resonates with parents who don’t want their children waiting for the school bus under a dark morning sky. “It’s kids getting ready to go to school,” said Wooten, the Virginia Tech economist. “It’s kids getting on the bus.
You know, it’s really dangerous to put kids out waiting for the bus in the morning when it’s really dark outside, and so if you have that extra time in the morning, it’s a safer morning for most people, right?” The third advocates for a permanent Daylight Saving Time. The sun would rise and set later, giving people less daylight in the morning and more in the evening. This approach is often supported by retail, business and restaurant groups and organizations that want people to have enough daylight left after work or school to be out and about and participating in the economy, and by those who say more daylight in the evening could reduce crime.
The reasons for supporting any side in this debate are as disparate as each individual’s own personal life experiences; some parents may prefer that their children not wait for the bus during a dark morning, while other parents may prefer there be some daylight while they watch their kids practice sports after school. While Musk and Ramaswamy both said they support ending the clock changes, it’s not clear whether they are proposing the country adopt permanent Daylight Saving Time or permanent standard time. Musk seemed to signal support for both conflicting ideas in his posts to X last week.
“Looks like the people want to abolish the annoying time changes!” he wrote in response to an X user who made poll that showed wide support for abolishing Daylight Saving Time. Hours later, he responded with an enthusiastic “ Yes! ” when Florida Sen. Rick Scott touted the Sunshine Protection Act, legislation he supports which would “lock the clock” and make Daylight Saving Time the standard.
That post, which said Daylight Saving Time “needs to go,” was eventually deleted because it contained what Scott’s office described as a typographical error. Scott, whose unsuccessful bid for Senate leadership was supported by Musk and who now sits on the DOGE Senate caucus, signed a state version of that bill into law when he was governor of Florida in 2018. “Floridians are sick of changing their clocks because we all want more sunshine,” Scott said in an October statement touting the bill.
“It’s time for Congress to act, pass the Sunshine Protection Act and lock the clock.” Previous attempts to do so have faltered. Daylight Saving Time was first introduced during World War I to assist with the nation’s industrial productivity during the Great War – not, as popular rumors frequently suggest, to give farmers more day time during harvest.
Daylight Saving Time was kept permanent during most of World War II, also for reasons to do with industry and energy. During the gas crisis in the 1970s, the country once again tried making Daylight Saving Time permanent, only for public approval to plummet after complaints of children being hit by cars while waiting for the bus at night. States aren’t required to change their clocks; Hawaii, most of Arizona and some US territories in the Pacific and Caribbean do not observe Daylight Saving Time.
In 2022, the US Senate passed legislation making Daylight Saving Time permanent, but the House failed to vote on it. And last year, a bipartisan group of senators reintroduced legislation that would make a switch to daylight saving permanent. Now, with the possible support of one of the richest men in the world, the country may prepare to make another change – one way or the other.
Musk and Ramaswamy are expected to address Republican House and Senate members on Thursday afternoon, with the meeting expected to center on the newly formed efficiency department..
