Daylight saving time, a process where the sun rises later in the morning and sets later in the evening, occurred this year on March 10.

     P-T high school science teacher Ryan Tucek explained the psychological reasoning behind the change.

     “It’s a way to change the clocks to trick you into thinking you have more daylight at the end of the day, rather than while you’re in the middle of your workday,” Tucek said.

     The skipped hour happens on the second Sunday of March, at 2 a.m., and the clock turns back an hour on the first Sunday of November. 

     While almost all U.S. states follow the daylight saving schedule, Hawaii and Arizona do not observe the change. The extra hour in Arizona would make sunset during the hottest part of the day, increasing air conditioning bills to keep houses cool. Hawaii maintains a regular schedule because there is little daylight variation during the seasons.

      Countries farther from the equator feel harsher angles from the sun, while countries closer to the equator do not see much sunlight difference throughout the seasons.

     “There’s no point to switching the clocks [close to the equator] because it’s pretty much the same season all the time,” Tucek said.

     Despite losing an hour of sleep, Tucek stated that he prefers the change.

     “I’m up early enough that the sun being up earlier doesn’t impact me,” he said. “I’d prefer we jump ahead and we don’t change it.”

     While students must now go to school in the darker mornings, after-school sports will have much more light.

     Many pieces of technology automatically update to the change, but older devices, such as car clocks, microwaves and alarm clocks may need to be manually updated.

     “When we’re in the car, my mom always forgets to change the time, and I think I’m late to school,” said sophomore Colin Ratesic.

     The original reason for creating daylight saving time was to save energy to get more use out of the daylight.

     Tucek noted that daylight saving is a purely man-made invention that doesn’t impact nature.

     “Nature is gonna do what it does without us setting our rules to it,” said Tucek.

Annabelle Aquino, Copy Editor