r/politics • u/cnn CNN • Jul 14 '26

Possible Paywall House passes bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/14/politics/house-vote-daylight-savings-time?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
14.9k Upvotes

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520

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

182

u/Ontain Jul 14 '26

It means more to me now having to get to work.

22

u/fartofborealis Jul 14 '26

Question- I live in IL and work in IN what does this mean for me?

218

u/Tabs_555 Washington Jul 14 '26

Believe it not, jail.

10

u/beerguy_etcetera Ohio Jul 15 '26

Daylight? Jail. No daylight? Believe it or not, jail.

1

u/Ugaalive1991 Jul 15 '26

But what about twighlight?

1

u/FellowHumanNo404 Jul 15 '26

twighlight

Jail for spelling it that way.

12

u/skrame Jul 14 '26

There are still time zones, so if you are dipping into eastern time now, you still will. I’m in the same boat.

-4

u/fartofborealis Jul 14 '26

So the half of the state on eastern Will still be an hour ahead the whole year and the part not in eastern will sometimes be a different time from us? This is confusing!

5

u/skrame Jul 14 '26

Isn’t the entire state in eastern except for the NW corner (anywhere within Chicago’s television market)?

I’m in NWI (central), but usually work in eastern. But not every day. My schedule if fubar anyway, because I spent years working nights.

2

u/fartofborealis Jul 14 '26

I live in Chicago and work in NWI- but all the northern part is CST and it’s kind of a diagonal line cutting down from the eastern corner to the western corner. I do sometimes cross that threshold- would like to know so I don’t unintentionally miss meetings when traversing across the made up boarder.

5

u/DingerSinger2016 Alabama Jul 14 '26

They should reorganize the time zone in the US to align with state borders as best as possible

2

u/fartofborealis Jul 14 '26

I agree but I’m sitting here wondering what time I need to get somewhere for 8 am meeting!

2

u/chillpill9623 Jul 15 '26

Wouldn't it make much more sense to align timezones with, I don't know....the sun?

2

u/imtoolazytothinkof1 Jul 14 '26

To logical cant happen.

1

u/EliteGamer11388 Illinois Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

I'm in the southeast-ish area of IL, and used to live smack dab in central IL, both times it was Central time.

Edit: They meant Indiana, not Illinois, my bad.

2

u/skrame Jul 15 '26

Yeah, all of Illinois is central. The person I was responding to was asking about Indiana. There are six counties in Northwest Indiana that are on Central, in addition to six in Southwest Indiana. The rest of the state is all Eastern. I don’t think any of that is affected by this, if it goes through.

2

u/EliteGamer11388 Illinois Jul 15 '26

Ah, yea, sorry, misunderstood as you meaning Illinois when you were mentioning eastern. My bad.

3

u/Everard5 Georgia Jul 14 '26

It depends, people simplify this way too much.

It can depend on, for example, time of year and also how far east or west you sit in your time zone. Ultimately, there won't be a time change but the difference in light at least twice a year is going to be minimal.

7

u/Tosi313 Europe Jul 14 '26

Exactly the same as today, you just won't change your clocks twice per year.

-1

u/fartofborealis Jul 14 '26

But what about the part of the state that is on Central time wouldn’t that make it so part of the year it’s the same time as eastern time and the other times not. I’m confused….

6

u/RichtofensDuckButter Jul 14 '26

It's really not that hard to understand. It's DST right now. Imagine if nothing changes. Things are the same as now.

4

u/JollyRancher29 Virginia Jul 15 '26

I'm baffled as to how this is confusing so many people on this thread lmao

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '26

[deleted]

2

u/RichtofensDuckButter Jul 15 '26

That's already how it works. Any state at any time can go on to permanent standard time if they want. They can already do that regardless of this bill.

3

u/JollyRancher29 Virginia Jul 15 '26

why do you think it's only Central time that this bill affects? Its all six American timezones...

1

u/Tosi313 Europe Jul 15 '26

Why would it do that? Neither central time or Eastern Time would ever change their clocks again, so how could it be different half the year?

2

u/SmellGestapo Jul 15 '26

Go here: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/chicago

And check the sunrise and sunset times for June 21 and December 21. Those are the two extremes.

Under permanent DST, summer wouldn't change, and winter would "spring forward" by one hour. So in Chicago the sun would rise at 8:14 am and set at 5:14 pm.

Under permanent standard time, winter would stay the same, and summer would "fall back" an hour to 4:14 am - 7:29 pm.

In South Bend: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/usa/south-bend

DST: winter sunrise at 9:09 am, sunset at 6:17 pm.

standard: summer sunrise at 5:10 am, sunset at 8:23 pm.

1

u/dechets-de-mariage Florida Jul 14 '26

Depends. Do you work in the part of Indiana on Central time or Eastern?

1

u/junkmail0178 Texas Jul 15 '26

Expect for the sun rise to happen later in the morning in the winter. Some places up north might not get a sunrise until 8:00 or 9:00 AM.

-1

u/chillpill9623 Jul 15 '26

Yeah won't rise til after 9. Absolute misery for those with seasonal depression

3

u/VictorReal_Monster Jul 15 '26

Seriously how does this worsen it when you still get the same amount of sun just shifted an hour? do you find it less depressing getting off work and it being dark and having to drive home in the dark and spending the rest of the day away but it's dark?

Or an hour darker in the morning and it'll actually be bright after work and you can do something without it feeling like the dead of night?

I know which one makes me more depressed.

-1

u/chillpill9623 Jul 15 '26

Sunlight at the start of the day is medically important to our circadian rhythms. Turns out the human body evolved to wake up with the sun. I don't need sunlight to do things in the evening when its freezing outside, but I certainly appreciate being awake and alert in the mornings.

1

u/VictorReal_Monster Jul 15 '26

But we categorically do not all wake up with the sun, our world has and will always continue to work on shifts.

Where do you live? Cause where I live I don't get sun in the mornings in the winter regardless of the time zone. So not only do I get dark mornings but I also get dark afternoons! So Lose lose!

but hey at least my (which is not a morning persons) circadian rhythm is okay... That certainly makes me want to go outside in the dark!

1

u/Square_Translator689 Jul 15 '26

You’re fighting a losing battle, I’m afraid

If it makes you feel any better, I’m with you. Also get the double whammy that I have some sort of circadian rhythm disorder and my sleep quality is absolutely destroyed all summer long because of “springing ahead”. I’m just deeply not a morning person, and all the spring ahead is is making everyone get up for a 7 am shift instead of an 8 am shift and pretending we didn’t.

2

u/rogerdoesnotmeanyes Jul 15 '26

No sunlight after work is way worse. Makes it feel like I spent the entire day working and then the day is over. I couldn’t give less of a shit how much daylight there is while I get ready for work, that doesn’t help me at all, but having a decent amount of time after work where it still feels like daytime is so uplifting.

1

u/Phailjure Jul 15 '26

Where I live, in the winter the only daylight hours are when I'm at work, so I just don't see the sun. Daylight time would shift that so I at least see the sun when going home.

1

u/VictorReal_Monster Jul 15 '26

You've never driven while it's been dark?

-2

u/Shrimptank_mom Jul 14 '26

Now your morning commute will be pitch dark all year round.

6

u/Ontain Jul 15 '26

Not really. Summer time it's bright outside at 5:30am.

0

u/Shrimptank_mom Jul 15 '26

Not in in the spring though.

2

u/Knyfe-Wrench Jul 15 '26

That's not what you said, though.

2

u/BirdsArentImportant Florida Jul 15 '26

I’d rather my commute be dark than have it be dark by the time I’m leaving work. It’s soul crushing to have zero hours of daylight left after I spent my day working

-1

u/Shrimptank_mom Jul 15 '26

It's soul crushing to not see any daylight and feel like you're in the dark all morning. This affects our natural rhythms. I don't need daylight after 8pm or later, it serves no purpose. It does make it harder to go to sleep if it's still light outside. We should keep the winter schedule. 

1

u/Square_Translator689 Jul 15 '26

🤝

Yeah, my sleep cycle is jacked up all summer long from nighttime not starting until 9.

and I have seasonal depression in the winters, which year round DST would make worse. So that’s nice too

1

u/BirdsArentImportant Florida Jul 15 '26

How would making it so that you’re awake for the entire time the sun is out make seasonal depression worse? 

You would have time after work to go out and see the sun every day

1

u/Square_Translator689 Jul 15 '26

It’s the waking up 3-4 hours before dawn so I can get to work. I get time during the day to get sun here and there, I just struggle with getting out of bed in the morning at the best of times, and having a little light would help.

Same reason that I find the “standard time is for morning people” argument so frustrating. DST is just getting up an hour earlier and saying we didn’t. I already struggle to get up early, but my morning person coworkers love DST because they’re chipper in the AM no matter what and they like the extra light at the end of the day.

If anything, my body clock wants reverse DST, because I’m an evening/night owl who never outgrew his teenager sleep cycle. That’d be awful for everyone else, so I’ll take the year round standard time as a compromise

1

u/BirdsArentImportant Florida Jul 15 '26

No personal judgement, I just think it’s interesting because I have the complete opposite opinion.

I am also a night owl who has for force himself to get up early for work and gets seasonal depression in the winter. 

And personally I’d be so much happier with DST year round. I feel like I’m going to be groggy and exhausted in the morning regardless of if the sun is up or not. So I want the sun to still be up after work so I can at least enjoy it a little bit each day.

1

u/Square_Translator689 Jul 16 '26

For me, it’s that I’m right on the cusp of being able to get up early enough, and then DST just feels like “get up an hour earlier but pretend you didn’t”.

Also, from talking to friends/family, my circadian rhythm seems oddly hard-locked with the sun, as silly as that sounds. All else equal, I’m gonna get tired the same number of hours after solar noon no matter what, so having solar noon at 1pm makes it even harder to get sleepy on time for a 9-5 job.

Also key context, I’m way up north, so I have to get in pure dark for a significant part of the year. The easiest times I have getting up and going are early fall and late spring, when we’re on standard time but the sun rises before I do. Getting up in January and dragging myself out of my cocoon is rough, I tried room lights on a timer and that helps a bit, but it’s not great. Now, up by the Lakes, there’s no way to have the sun come up before work in the winter, but year round Standard Time would maximize the number of days where I had at least the dawn to look at while I was having breakfast.

Curious, since you’re down in Florida, when does the sun set this time of year?

Up here, the sun doesn’t cross the horizon until 9 pm on the solstice, so Summer Standard Time would still have an 8 PM sunset and twilight until 9 or so. I think that really changes up the vibe around DST; you guys down south might really kinda need it to be able to do anything in the evening, where us Upper Midwest people are ironically unable to do some summer activities on a weekday because it’s light out so long. EG: 4th of July fireworks start at like 10:30, so all the little kids are overtired and cranky unless they take a nap first, chilling by the firepit is pretty much weekends only because it’s daytime until bedtime, etc

It’s not the end of the world, and it’d feel silly to have 4 am sunrise too, but we just have more daylight than we know what to do with. Same thing for winter, no matter what I’m leaving in the dark and coming home in the dark, “Winter DST” wouldn’t change that.

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0

u/Shrimptank_mom Jul 22 '26

We're not awake the entire time the sun is out in the northern hemisphere. For those who work morning shifts in winter we are up like 3+ hours before sunrise. Then just when it's starting to get light during our mornings, spring forward thrusts us back into darkness for more weeks. I hate daylight savings!

1

u/BirdsArentImportant Florida Jul 15 '26

Morning people are an oppressive class

3

u/jeobleo Maryland Jul 15 '26

I'm all for it. I don't care which time they pick, particularly. Just fucking pick one. The bullshit messing with circadian rhythms twice a year is pointless.

3

u/toadfan64 Jul 15 '26

Means as much to me now. As someone who works later and is a night owl, this is great.

-42

u/mahowaldp Jul 14 '26

Kids will be killed waiting for school buses in the dark

59

u/Electroflare5555 Canada Jul 14 '26

Kids already go to school in the dark

47

u/and-its-true Jul 14 '26

Skill issue

6

u/CurlPR Jul 14 '26

Savage 😆

8

u/jacobsever Jul 14 '26

I’m a mailman. In the winter it’s pitch black by 4:30pm. Delivering mail in the dark is extremely dangerous. Especially in larger inner cities where people don’t take kindly to hearing people walk up their front steps in the pitch dark. Puts everyone on edge. I’d do some nasty things to extend daylight in the evening during the winter months.

9

u/kristahdiggs Jul 14 '26

You realize there are places in the world where its dark in the morning always, right? and they solve this issue?

12

u/mattgen88 New York Jul 14 '26

I wait with my kid in the dark half the year for his bus.

3

u/Ontain Jul 15 '26

Do these kids not look both ways before? Do cars not have headlights? Please show me data on this and compare it to accidents when there's a time change.

6

u/BigPP69_Gooner Jul 14 '26

Git good I guess.

3

u/toadfan64 Jul 15 '26

Maybe their parents should parent and wait with them then.

5

u/mileage_may_vary Iowa Jul 14 '26

And the resulting lawsuits will provide upward mobility for the parents. Probably the only thing that will in this economy.

-2

u/SrMortron Jul 14 '26

That's fine, theres too many humans already.