Daylight Savings: What's the Point?

We are about to embark on yet another daylight savings change, which begins at 2 a.m. tomorrow morning (Sunday). This is when we need to turn our clocks back one hour. The only way I can remember which way to go is by thinking to myself, "Spring forward, Fall back." We are all receiving one additional hour of time tomorrow. Every hour is precious in my busy life, so I plan to spend it well. While I am thankful for the extra hour, I question if it is worth it.

Could it be that daylight savings is an old tradition we continue to follow that is actually inconvenient, a waste of time and confusing? I cannot tell you that I totally understand the whole daylight savings reasoning, but I do know that I do not have a choice in the matter. I am one who does not like to go with the flow unless I understand the reasoning behind it. I began to wonder this time around why we have to conform to this practice. Perhaps many of you understand this concept and where it derived from, but I do not. Likely I learned about it years ago but have since forgotten.  

Here is the scoop, for those of you who are like me and are now starting to question the history of daylight savings. According to many online sources, the idea of daylight savings was created by Benjamin Franklin, which he wrote about in an essay, "An Economical Project." While there is more history to the evolution and actual implementation of daylight savings after Franklin's essay was written, it seems he and his essay have played a large part in its conception. 

After doing some studying, I am not convinced this is a necessary practice. Perhaps we have just been going along with it for so long that we simply do not question it. I say let us do away with the whole idea and save ourselves the hassle. We could instead solely observe the practice of changing the batteries in our smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors, an important and life-saving initiative.