Daylight Saving Time has its roots in the idea of aligning our daily routines with the natural rhythms of daylight. The concept is often traced back to Benjamin Franklin, who humorously suggested in 1784 that Parisians could save on candles by rising earlier to take advantage of morning sunlight. The modern proposal, however, came more than a century later from George Vernon Hudson, a New Zealand entomologist, who in 1895 suggested adjusting the clock to enjoy more daylight after work. Around the same time, British builder William Willett began advocating for seasonal time changes to reduce energy use and encourage people to spend more time outdoors.
The idea caught on globally during World War I, when Germany became the first country to officially adopt Daylight Saving Time in 1916 to conserve fuel. Other nations, including the United States, soon followed. The U.S. first implemented DST in 1918 but repealed it a year later due to public opposition. It returned during World War II as “War Time,” when President Franklin D. Roosevelt kept clocks advanced year-round from 1942 to 1945 to save energy for the war effort.
After the war, the absence of national standards created confusion as cities and states set their own start and end dates for DST. To fix this, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which standardized the observance of Daylight Saving Time across the country while allowing states to opt out. Later adjustments—including the Energy Policy Act of 2005—extended DST to run from March to November, the schedule we follow today.
Now, as North Carolinians prepare to “fall back” this weekend, state lawmakers are once again debating whether to keep the seasonal time change or eliminate it altogether. House Bill 12, introduced earlier this year, proposes keeping standard time year-round, citing health and sleep benefits. Meanwhile, Senate Bill 81 would allow North Carolina to adopt daylight saving time year-round, but only if Congress grants states the authority to do so. The House bill remains in committee, while the Senate bill is currently recessed, temporarily pausing the discussion.
This isn’t the first time lawmakers have considered “locking the clock.” In 2023, the North Carolina House overwhelmingly passed a similar measure to make DST permanent, but it died in committee. Supporters of permanent daylight saving time say that longer evening daylight boosts businesses, tourism, and outdoor recreation, while advocates for standard time argue that it aligns better with natural circadian rhythms and supports overall health.
For now, North Carolinians will still turn their clocks back on November 2, as the debate over time continues—and perhaps one day, “falling back” may be a thing of the past.
