Bart Elmore, an assistant professor of American history, bikes to campus from Northport. He said he enjoys more light at the end of the day because it makes his ride home a lot safer.
“In the automobile nation we live in today, these concerns may not matter to many folks,” he said. “But they certainly make a difference for us who use the energy in our bodies to get to and from work.”
According to the United States Naval Observatory, the history of daylight saving time began after standard time zones were instituted in 1918. In 1966, the Uniform Time Act allowed states exemption from its observance.
Since 2007, the time shift begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
Christopher Lynn, a professor and director of the evolutionary studies program in the department of anthropology, said daylight has a direct effect on human bodies but in today’s society daylight saving time is no longer beneficial.
“We force ourselves up early, force ourselves to work through an eight-hour or so long day, caffeinate heavily to keep going despite flagging efficiency after lunch, then sit up by the fake glow of television and iPad screens,” he said.
Hawaii and Arizona are the only states that do not currently observe daylight saving time.
There are 115 students from Arizona and 33 students from Hawaii at the University, according to the University’s Census Enrollment Report for Spring 2015. John-Cole Garwick, a sophomore majoring in economics and finance, is from Glendale, Arizona, and said he never changed his clocks for daylight saving time before coming to Alabama.
Garwick and his roommates said they had trouble remembering to change their clocks.
“In the fall of freshman year we didn’t change our clocks for probably a week,” he said. “The first day our phones changed because they do it automatically, but all the appliances and stuff inside our dorm just sat there.”
