“Spring forward, fall back” is an easy quote to remember, guiding us in the direction we should be changing our clocks during daylight saving time. But is there something simpler we could be doing instead?

As a gag, I hit the streets to ask people how they feel about the government making things easier for us by getting us to change our clocks by 10 minutes every month instead of an hour every six months. As expected, most of the people I talked to were less than impressed with that idea.

Yet, is the system we have now so much better? While I love gaining an hour of sleep in the fall, losing an hour each spring is a drag and leaves me wondering why we do it at all. There are so many places around the world that don’t do this back and forth thing and I recently learned that even some areas in my very own province of B.C. stay on standard time.

Finding out that a neighboring city doesn’t change their clocks made me feel like a little kid about to ask my parents why my sibling can ignore the same dumb rule that I’m forced to abide by.

I understand that having a longer day can benefit farming and other activities that depend on sunlight after working hours. It has also been argued that there are energy savings due to the time change, making it better for our environment. But what about all us parents with children who don’t want to go to bed when it’s still light out?

Of course, we’re a few months away from that being an issue. I’m just complaining early because of the whole losing-an-hour-of-sleep thing. Sleep deprivation, or the mere thought of it, can make me grumpy.

“I don’t like it because I already feel like I have no time,” one of my friends said about having to set her clock back. “It feels like I’m being gypped out of an incredibly precious hour of it.”

I hear you friend. My sentiments exactly.

“Your column is called On a Brighter Note,” I was reminded when I declared that I’d be writing on this very important subject. “You can’t be whining in public.” But it’s fun to publicly complain about trivial matters occasionally. I can’t explain why, it just is.

“The whole thing is ludicrous,” one of my senior citizen friends said when I asked him how he felt about springing forward or falling backward in time. “What did our ancestors do? They weren’t controlled by clocks and what time they were ‘supposed’ to work. If the sun came up earlier, they worked earlier, and if the sun came up later, they worked later. It was as simple as that.”

Not everyone thinks of it as hogwash, however. Many even look forward to the change.

“It gives us more daylight during waking hours,” said one of my friends. “And I have a built-in excuse for being two hours late for work once a year when I accidentally set my clocks the wrong way.” Accidentally-on-purpose is more likely. I guess her boss should send her that easy “spring forward, fall back” quote so she doesn’t make the same mistake again this year.

What do you think of daylight savings? To see how others feel, please watch my video that accompanies this column at LoriWelbourne.com.