Dianne Frances D. Powell
TERRE HAUTE —
It’s that time of the year again.
Hoosiers should get an extra hour of sleep this weekend as daylight saving time (also known as daylight savings time) ends with a “fall back” to standard time at 2 a.m. on Sunday.
This means that clocks have to be set to 1 a.m. at 2 a.m. tomorrow.
And because time change sometimes causes clock confusion, some organizations have issued reminders to the public.
Leaders of one downtown church, St. Benedict Catholic Church, has been reminding parishioners about the time change for weeks. It was announced at mass, posted on the church bulletin and even highlighted on the church’s website.
And for good reason: The church has an early — 8:30 a.m. — mass on Sundays.
Clock confusion happens every fall.
“A certain number of people forget to turn their clocks back” and may come too early for mass, said Rita Burns Senseman, Religious Education coordinator at St. Benedict.
And in the spring, when “spring forward” happens, people may be an hour too late for church.
Senseman said the clock change announcement is also in the church’s religious education calendar to remind the teachers to come for the 9:30 a.m. class on time.
Daylight saving time may now create momentary confusion but when the concept was created, it actually had good intentions.
According to various sources, Benjamin Franklin is credited with the concept of daylight saving time.
“The basic idea is to make the best use of daylight hours by shifting the clock forward in the Spring and backward in the Fall,” according to an article at the official NASA website.
But U.S. states and territories are not required to observe daylight saving time under federal law, which is why some residents, including those of Arizona and Hawaii, do not need to change their clocks, according to the National Geographic.
In fact, it wasn’t until 2006 when the entire state of Indiana started to observe daylight saving time. (Before 2006, there were 10 counties in Indiana that observed it, according to NASA).
Daylight saving time is observed by more than 1.6 billion people in 78 countries worldwide, according to Indiana State Excise Police, another organization that sent out a reminder about the time change this weekend.
But with further announcement.
“Because daylight saving time changes clocks to 1 a.m. at 2 a.m. on Nov. 3, alcoholic beverage outlets will have one additional hour during which they may serve or sell alcoholic beverages on this date. Pursuant to Indiana law, they must still cease sales at 3 a.m.,” a release said.
And people just remind themselves of the time change.
“As soon as I think of it on Saturday, I turn the clocks back,” said Senseman, the coordinator at St. Benedict.
But some people do not change the time on their clocks until Sunday.
One of them is Terre Haute resident Terran Williams.
“I love the fall,” Williams said, “because you feel like you gained an hour of time.”
When asked if she was concerned about missing commitments because of time confusion, she had a practical, new-technology response.
“You can always look at your phone to see what time it is,” she said.
Some digital devices — phones, DVRs or cable boxes — are connected to networks and automatically change times.
Another Terre Haute resident, Hannah, said she does not change the time in her clocks at all.
“All my clocks are digital, so they are automatically set to do it [change],” she said.
This includes her stove, microwave, computer and Playstation.
She did not even know about the time change until someone pointed it out to her this week.
“I don’t have to worry about it,” she said.