Elon Musk Wants to Abolish the ‘Annoying’ Time Change in the U.S
Musk, who heads Trump’s Government Performance Committee, wants to eliminate daylight saving time (DST) in the US, saying it is “outdated” and annoying.
“It seems Americans want to get rid of annoying timekeeping!” Elon Musk wrote on X on November 27, responding to a post from an account that said “All I wish for my birthday is for daylight saving time to be abolished.”
Daylight saving time (DST) is a time-keeping system that is used in the US and many European countries.
According to this convention, from around mid-spring (late March) to early winter (late October, early November), when the daylight hours are longer, clocks are set forward by one hour. In winter, the clocks will be reset to the old way.
Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the two leaders of President-elect Donald Trump’s Government Performance Council, have in recent days called for an end to this time change in the US, arguing that it is outdated and inconvenient for society. Ramaswamy called DST “an inefficient habit that is easy to change”.
When Republican Senator Mike Lee asked Musk if he wanted to completely end DST, the tech billionaire admitted “Yes”.
These comments led the US media to speculate that the Government Performance Council will push for a change in the way time is calculated in the US once Donald Trump takes office in January 2025. This idea has received significant support from voters in recent years.
According to CNN, the debate over time zones in the US is divided into three main groups. One group wants to keep the current system, where clocks are set forward in March and back in November, arguing that it balances the amount of daylight between morning and night throughout the year.
A second group favors year-round standard time, which allows for longer mornings, aligns with natural circadian rhythms and is recommended by many health experts. A third group has proposed keeping DST year-round, in the hope of boosting economic activity in the evenings and reducing crime.
Musk has suggested scrapping the “annoying” time-changing convention, or implementing DST year-round, as proposed by Senator Rick Scott, who signed a similar law in Florida in 2018, saying residents there were tired of the time changes.
DST was used in the US during World War I to increase industrial productivity. However, efforts to implement this system year-round during the energy crisis of the 1970s were met with strong opposition, with concerns raised about the safety of children walking around during working hours when it was actually dark outside.
DST is also not uniformly applied in US states, notably Hawaii and most of Arizona do not change their clocks annually as per convention. In 2022, the US Senate passed a bill to maintain DST year-round, but the House did not bring the bill to a vote, causing the proposal to fail.
With the backing of celebrities like Musk and Ramaswamy, the proposal is gaining renewed attention. Musk and Ramaswamy are scheduled to speak to Republican members of the House and Senate on the afternoon of December 5, to discuss the work of the Government Performance Board in the new administration.
