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So, What is Daylight Savings Time?

In Blogging by Siobhan Findlay

This Sunday at 2 A.M., March 12th, we will be setting our clocks forward for Daylight Savings Time. Each year, twice a year, us Michiganders and many other states and countries change the time on our clocks by an hour. Have you ever wondered why? We did. So we did a little research on the history of Daylight Savings Time.

Here’s what we found:

1. Germany was the first country to use DST.

It was first used on May 1, 1916 for the reasons of making the most use out of daylight and conserving artificial lighting during World War I. The concept is accredited to William Willett, who published The Waste of Daylight in 1908.

2. It has benefits for the economy.

Although the official reasonings for DST were for saving energy and maximizing daylight, there were apparently other reasons that countries started using DST. In the United States and other countries one of the motives was that if people left work while it was still light out, then there was more of a chance that they would go shopping and do recreational activities after work.

3. There are some areas in the U.S. that do not use DST.

Not a fan of it? Well then you might considering moving to Arizona or Hawaii. DST is not mandated by federal law, so areas in these two states choose to not change their time. It is believed that Arizona doesn’t choose to because they have plenty of sunlight each day, and when temperatures reach in the 100s a break from the sunlight is welcome.

4. It starts at 2 A.M.

The reasoning behind this is that workers with early shifts will still be asleep, but bars and restaurants will be closed. Today there are 70 different countries that use DST affecting over a billion people.

We hope that this helped answer some questions about Daylight Savings Time, and don’t forget to reset your clock this Saturday night!

To read more blogs about marketing, video, and much more visit www.michigancreative.com.

Information in the post found from Time and Date, TIME, AZ Central, and Mental Floss.