A study, drawing upon an analysis of posts from American online platforms and social media, has revealed that public sentiment generally deteriorates around the annual shifts to daylight saving time (in the spring) and standard time (in the autumn). This dip in mood is more pronounced following the autumn transition to standard time. The findings were published in the journal PLOS One.
The practice of seasonal clock changes involves altering time twice annually. In the spring, clocks advance by one hour to daylight saving time, typically in March. This adjustment is commonly framed as a “loss” of an hour of sleep. In the autumn, clocks move back one hour to standard time, usually in October or November. This is known as the “gain” of an extra hour of sleep.
The rationale behind these adjustments is to maximize the utility of daylight during periods of longer days. In spring, evenings gain daylight while mornings become darker. In autumn, mornings get lighter, but evenings darken sooner. These shifts can temporarily disrupt sleep patterns and daily routines.
However, evidence suggests that the switch to daylight saving time correlates with negative public attitudes. These time shifts also interfere with sleep cycles, increase the risk of accidents and health issues, and may impair cognitive performance. Ongoing discussions center on whether to adopt permanent daylight saving or standard time year-round, as each option carries distinct implications for sleep, health, and daily functioning.
Currently, daylight saving time is observed across most U.S. states and in Canada, some regions of Australia and New Zealand, as well as the majority of European nations. Numerous countries situated near the equator have either abandoned the practice or never implemented it, given the minimal annual variation in daylight hours they experience.
Author Ben Ellman and his collaborators conducted research utilizing social media to quantify how public sentiment evolves during the transitions to both daylight saving and standard time. Their hypothesis anticipated heightened negative sentiment immediately following both spring and autumn clock changes, with this negativity being more severe in the fall.
The researchers gathered daily metrics on social media mentions and associated sentiment related to time changes over a 20-day window preceding each event. The dataset utilized for the analysis was compiled via a specialized social media monitoring platform.
The research team established a set of primary keywords for their social media searches. By examining posts generated between 2019 and 2023, the study’s authors amassed a total of 821,140 relevant mentions.
The investigation extended beyond the United States as a whole; the team specifically sought out posts originating from urban areas situated within 100 miles (160 km) of U.S. time zone borders. By contrasting the sentiment recorded in a city west of a time zone boundary on daylight saving day with the sentiment in a city east of the boundary on the preceding day, the researchers aimed to isolate the “shock” effect of the time change itself while keeping variables like weather and daylight schedules relatively consistent.
For assessing the tone and context of the posts, the authors employed the Quid natural language processing engine. Each post was assigned an emotional score ranging from -100 to 100, indicating whether it conveyed positive or negative feeling. Furthermore, the Quid engine categorized mentions based on unique descriptors associated with the emotional valence of each core term.
The findings indicated that—within the national dataset—the average daily volume of mentions related to time changes was 32,271, exhibiting significant day-to-day variation. The highest frequencies of daily mentions were observed in the Eastern and Pacific regions of the U.S. Overall, the average national positive sentiment level during the daylight saving transition (positive: 5.65) was higher than that recorded during the standard time transition (negative: -13.02).
Ultimately, the results demonstrated an adverse impact on mood following both seasonal shifts. Nevertheless, the ramifications of these changes were not identical. The researchers determined that while the negative emotional decline after the spring daylight saving switch abated relatively quickly (showed recovery), the negative sentiment following the autumn transition to standard time persisted over a more prolonged duration.
“These discoveries suggest that the public reaction to the shift to standard time in the fall is more negative than the reaction to the spring transition to daylight saving time. This work brings attention to the possibility that societal responses to time changes differ depending on whether the transition is toward or away from daylight saving time,” the study’s authors concluded.
This research adds to the existing scientific understanding of how populations react to temporal alterations. However, the authors note that attitudes toward time changes are contingent upon intricate behavioral factors and demographic profiles that were not incorporated into this study. Because individuals vary in their patterns of social media engagement, these differences in reactions may not be fully or accurately represented by analyzing social media posts alone.
About the Author
