Musk, who heads Trump’s Government Performance Council, wants to abolish daylight saving time (DST) in the US because he thinks this timekeeping method is “outdated” and annoying.
“It seems Americans want to get rid of those annoying time changes!” 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-setting system used in the United States and many European countries to adjust the time to the actual time of day when it is light.
According to this convention, from about mid-spring (late March) to early winter (late October, early November), when the days are longer, the clocks are set forward one hour. In winter, the clocks are set back to normal.
Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the two leaders of President-elect Donald Trump’s Office of Government Performance, have in recent days called for an end to this time change in the US, arguing that it is outdated and inconvenient for society.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 “a habit that is inefficient and easily changed.”
When Republican Senator Mike Lee asked Musk if he wanted to end DST altogether, the tech billionaire admitted, “Yes.”
These comments have led US media to speculate that the Government Performance Board 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 over the years.
American billionaire Elon Musk in New York on October 27. Photo: AP
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 this way balances the amount of light between morning and night throughout the year.
A second group advocates adopting standard time year-round, which would allow for longer morning hours, in line with natural circadian rhythms and is recommended by many health experts. A third group proposes maintaining DST year-round, in the hope of boosting economic activity in the evenings and reducing crime.
Musk suggested that the “annoying” time change convention should be scrapped, or that DST be implemented year-round, as proposed by Senator Rick Scott, who signed a similar law in Florida in 2018, saying that residents of the state were tired of the time change.
DST was introduced in the United States during World War I to increase industrial productivity. However, attempts to implement the 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 work hours when it was actually dark outside.
DST is also not uniformly observed across US states, with Hawaii and much of Arizona not following the convention every year. In 2022, the US Senate passed a bill to maintain DST year-round, but the House of Representatives did not bring the bill up for a vote, causing the proposal to fail.
With high-profile backing from Musk and Ramaswamy, the proposal is gaining renewed attention. Musk and Ramaswamy are scheduled to speak before House and Senate Republicans on the afternoon of December 5 to discuss the work of the Government Performance Board in the new administration.
