Phones are going to reset, although microwaves won’t, and millions will wake up vaguely annoyed tomorrow about something they didn’t choose once again. In Hawaii, everything will stay put, just as it has since 1967. And if you have a Hawaii focus and/or live here, you also end up with some momentary confusion about what time it is where.
Across the rest of the U.S., the twice-yearly clock ritual returns tonight at 2 AM. Most of the country will “fall back” one hour, while Hawaii stays in place.
The Sunshine Protection Act, which would have ended these shifts for good, is still stuck in Washington’s time warp. So here we are—another clock change, another round of confusion, and another quiet moment when Hawaii gets to smile and say, “we told you so.”
Hawaii stopped the madness in 1967.
Hawaii opted out long before the mainland realized it was unmanageable. With sunrise and sunset barely shifting through the year here, it made no sense to join a mainland experiment meant far more for northern latitudes.
Arizona came to the same conclusion later, deciding that Daylight Saving Time just meant 110-degree evenings and 9 PM sunsets nobody wanted. Several readers in Arizona reminded us they ditched the switch a year after Hawaii did, yet still end up doing the mental math twice a year to keep up with the rest of the country.
The result is a strange kind of time envy every March and November when the rest of the country keeps adjusting. For travelers, it means the islands slide from three hours behind the West Coast to two, and from six to five behind the East Coast. Calendared meetings move, calls are rescheduled, and some confusion creeps in temporarily, as Hawaii keeps its steady rhythm.
Science has finally caught up with what Hawaii knew all along.
For years, Daylight Saving Time was promoted as a way to conserve energy and provide families with more evening daylight. None of that has entirely held up. Studies now show no real energy benefit and plenty of human cost.
Research shows that the spring clock change is linked with short-term spikes in heart attacks and car accidents, as sleep and circadian rhythms get jolted. One mainland reader called it “unnecessary jet lag,” pointing out that every study says changing clocks twice a year does more harm than good.
Once again, Hawaii looks smarter by staying off this merry-go-round. Its consistent schedule means no biannual body-clock reset, no missed flights, and no sleepy drivers come Monday morning. Residents here never lost an hour of rest or gained a pointless hour of daylight. They just went surfing and wondered what time it was on the mainland.
A country stuck in its own time warp.
The irony is that almost everyone agrees this system is broken. Nineteen states, most recently Texas, have passed bills to make Daylight Saving Time permanent; however, federal law prevents them from doing so. States can opt out entirely, as Hawaii and Arizona have, but they can’t pick year-round DST without congressional approval. So the nation waits for Washington to act while continuing to change clocks like it’s still 1967.
Congress came closest in 2022, when the Sunshine Protection Act passed the Senate unanimously. The bill then stalled in the House, was buried under other priorities, and got bogged down in regional disagreements. Northern states worry about kids waiting for school buses in pitch darkness at 8:30 AM, while southern states see no reason to lose evening beach time. Readers were just as divided: some begged to “just pick one and stick with it,” while others said the long summer evenings are worth every shift.
The meaning of island time.
In Hawaii, time feels less like a schedule and more like the rhythm of the waves: steady, unhurried, and dictated by the sun. “Island time” is a phrase visitors love to tease, but it also reflects something deeper: steadiness, patience, and living by the sun rather than by decree.
When you never touch your clock, notice the natural light instead. The day begins when it begins. That simplicity has become Hawaii’s quietest luxury. A visitor from Canada told us every trip to Maui reminds her why consistency feels good, no clock shock, just sunrise, surf, and people moving with the light.
Hawaii travel practicality.
It’s one of those quiet perks travelers don’t notice until they do. For half the year, Hawaii runs three hours behind the West Coast, which makes flight schedules and connections feel easy. The rest of the year, it’s only a two-hour gap, and timing gets trickier. Visitors and businesses here have learned to plan around it.
Tonight, Hawaii wins again.
By the time most of the U.S. reaches for phones and clocks to figure out the new reality, Hawaii will already be on the beach, sipping coffee and wondering why anyone still does this. No groggy Monday, no lost hour, no debate.
After 58 years and roughly 116 clock changes, the islands that have long ignored Daylight Saving Time may finally see the rest of the country admit they were right all along. Judging from the more than one hundred reader comments about this, America may never agree on which clock to keep, but nearly everyone agreed that Hawaii already had something figured out.
Will the rest of America ever join Hawaii, or are we destined to keep chasing the clock for another six decades?
Lead Photo Credit: Beat of Hawaii. Poipu Beach and turtles at sunset.
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Sunrises and sunsets are too late during DST. If you’re adjusted to ST (circadian wise) and an early bird, it sucks having to wait for the golf courses to open. And can’t get to sleep properly with the sun still blazing (gotta get up for the early tee times). Plus can hear all the kiddos screaming outside that are still up after 10 PM! People should be winding down and getting ready for sleep or already in bed sleeping by that time.
Don’t understand all these people who want more daylight during the evenings/nights but then are sleeping in until noon. Filling their nights with artificial lighting to stay awake, then sleeping their mornings away when there’s tons of natural sunshine. It boggles the mind.
JQ, it is a question of Circadian rhythms. I have read it is set by your birth time. I keep to local time when I can but when on vacation my natural body clock stays awake until 3-4 am and wakes up
around 10 or 11 am. I am at my most productive in the late afternoon and evening through until early morning and always have done. I do not suffer jet lag traveling west but east is difficult unless I can get a good sleep.
Dude, you live 5 ft from Canada or what?
I live in western Washington and probably live further north than most Canadians do.
China has one time zone.
American could easily have 2 for the continent, with Hawaii and Alaska different. It has been proposed before, look it up.
It’s a little early for Jeff and Rob to take a victory lap, isn’t it? I’m old enough to remember the grand experiment in 1974 when everyone was screaming for single time just like they are today. It ended after 10 months when kids were hit by cars walking to school or bus stops in the dark. In northern tier states no one liked the sun coming up at nearly 9am in December/January. Hawaii contains the southernmost tip of the US (Big Island) so it being close to the equator makes sense not to change clocks. I laugh when I read articles like yours today, guys – only because “we’ve been there, done that.” Why are people so quick to forget history?
Island time is the only time. The rest of the country needs to be on the same page. Life’s rough enough. Solve the easy problem. Then go ahead and tackle the big problems.
Wow Hawaii got something right! Word is the Governor has drafted up a bill to tax the visitors for not having to change their clocks twice a year.
I am of two minds on. this and it really depends on where you live latitude-wise. I grew up in Central California and DST made great sense. We had light into the mid-evening, maybe 8:30 or 9, which allowed for ballgames. As a kid, too, I didn’t feel like I was “wasting” daylight. Having lived in Washington for more than 50 years now, there is way too much light in summer; I feel like I have wasted good yardwork time if I am in before 10. I think year-around Standard time makes sense. You’ll just need to invest in field lighting to play.
Of course Hawaii made the right decision….. for Hawaii that is. As correctly pointed out the difference in sunrise and sunset times is minimal in Hawaii. But there are many areas of the mainland where Daylight Savings time does make sense. I raised my kids in startle where, if not for the time change, they would’ve been walking home from school in the dark. As it was the far Northern states have as little as 9 hours of sunlight so you have to manage it efficiently
I agree that it is outdated. The important thing is to switch to Standard Time not DST as dark mornings in the Northern places cause more accidents. Hawaii like Kenya and other countries in the area of the Tropics gain little advantage but Alaska, Maine, the UP etc it makes a big difference.
California voters voted to stop the daylight savings. So what happened to our vote- our voice, our right?
It isnt “your right ” or “your vote”.
Its a federal law controlled by Congress and requires a majority in both House and Senate to change. So far, the House has refused to act at all, while the Senate voted unanimously to do away with DST.
Me, I don’t care. It doesn’t bother one way or the other. The list of “horibles” in the article attributable to DST sounds like a , or the ravings of the usual dang of snowflakes.
Actually Proposition 7 allowed the state legislature to, by a 2/3 vote, the choice of one or the other, with the approval of congress. Proposals to make DST permanent have been entered in both bodies, but to date neither proposal has passed.
Not being a morning person, I find it kind of depressing to have the “day” end so early and have to endure such long hours of darkness.
Trouble is – here in Canada the ‘push’ is to make Daylight Time year round. For us here in the mid-North (Edmonton – 53 degrees) that would push sunrise to nearly 10:00AM in the dead of winter. School kids would be getting morning recess in the dark. If DST needs to go, give it back to the original time zones from 1878. That dude travelled the Canadian Pacific Railway where it mattered.
I understand the point about kids which is why the current system works well. I live in Canada and it works well now.
Most of AZ also doesn’t change their clocks. The exception is the the Navajo Nation in the northeast corner of the state. They pretty much have to change their clocks since their territory covers parts of AZ, UT, and NM.
It’s always fun calculating what time it is when you have family members who live in CA, IL and NC!