Back in the 1800s, when time zones were first established, Indiana observed Central Time.1 This wasn’t controversial—just common sense. Indiana is well within the Central Time Zone as it is geographically defined.2 It remained this way until the 1960s, when Indiana started observing Eastern Time.3 Why the change?
Indiana did not move geographically, but certain business interests thought that by observing Eastern Time, they would gain an economic advantage. While there might have been some truth to this in the 1960s—the era of telephones, telegraphs, and broadcast television—it is definitely not true in today’s era of iPhones, high speed data networks, and Netflix. Modern technology has negated any convenience of commerce rationale for observing Eastern Time and several years of research and polling has not found any Indiana business that substantially benefits from it.4 In fact, Eastern Time has actually hindered commerce by forcing some businesses that rely on a Central Time schedule to move their operations out-of-state.5
Observing Eastern Time also has had adverse effects on Hoosiers’ health and quality of life. Indiana is the 7th most obese state in the US6 and a recent study has found that our later daylight is a contributing factor.7 July 4th fireworks can’t be held until 10 PM which is neither family nor community friendly.8 And less morning daylight in the winter means more schools delays, less instructional time, millions of dollars in lost productivity for parents and teachers, and a greater risk of accidents involving children waiting for buses in the dark.9
While individual counties can and already have made the change to Central Time, only the Governor or the General Assembly can make the change state-wide. Standardizing the use of Daylight Saving Time across the state in 2006 addressed only half of Indiana’s time problem. They need to complete the job by uniting Indiana under our original, geographic time zone.
Being two hours out of sync with nature is just too much.
Notes
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Indiana#Early_history
2 https://hoosiersforcentraltime.com/geography.html
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Indiana#1960s
4 https://hoosiersforcentraltime.com/2013/hct_petition_grievances.pdf
5 https://hoosiersforcentraltime.com/2015/Zimmer_Moving_to_Memphis.pdf
6 https://stateofobesity.org/adult-obesity/
7 https://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2014/04/morning-rays-keep-off-the-pounds.html
8 https://hoosiersforcentraltime.com/2014/2014_petition.pdf
9 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/chronotherapy/201401/indiana-where-it-s-always-later-you-think
