TIME: Remember folks, at 2 a.m. Sunday is the end of daylight saving time — spring ahead, fall back.
Clocks on cellphones and “smart” technology may reset themselves, but remember things like alarm clocks, microwaves, clocks in vehicles and wristwatches.
We were curious to learn a bit more about this custom.
“In 1916, during World War I, Germany became the first country to adopt DST to save energy for the war effort,” reads the website timeanddate.com (yes, that really exists). “Many countries across Europe soon followed suit. In the U.S. ‘fast time’ as it was called then was first introduced in 1918.”
Take note, it was a man from Pennsylvania who brought the custom to the U.S.
“The initiative was sparked by Robert Garland, a Pittsburgh industrialist who had encountered the idea in the United Kingdom,” the website read. The custom lasted seven months, then was repealed, but stayed in use in Pittsburgh, Boston and New York City.
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reintroduced the measure, “instituting year-round daylight saving time in the United States.” Referred to as ‘war time,’ DST was in force continuously from Feb. 9, 1942, to Sept. 30, 1945.
“During this time, the U.S. time zones were called ‘Eastern War Time,’ ‘Mountain War Time,’ ‘Central War Time,’ and ‘Pacific War Time.’ After the surrender of Japan in mid-August 1945, the time zones were relabeled ‘Peace Time.’”
There was no standardization, though.
“Historically, there were no uniform rules for DST from 1945 to 1966. This caused widespread confusion, especially in transport and broadcasting. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 aligned the switch dates across the USA for the first time.
“Following the 1973 oil embargo, the US Congress extended the DST period to 10 months in 1974 and 8 months in 1975, in an effort to save energy,” the site read.
“After the energy crisis was over in 1976, the DST schedule in the US was revised several times. From 1987 to 2006, the country observed DST for about 7 months each year.”
Much of Arizona and all of Hawaii do not participate in daylight saving time.
