Many despise the end of daylight saving time. Some can’t wait.

“The measurement of time,” said Alex Reifsnyder, “is something that doesn’t really change at any time of the year, except for these two days.”

Mr. Reifsnyder, 28, was of course referring to the second Sunday in March, when daylight saving time begins in the United States, and the first Sunday in November, when… wah – wah … ends.

“I always found it so fascinating to watch,” he added.

When he was 11 years old and growing up in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, he began begging his parents to let him stay up to watch the clocks change – backward in the fall and forward in the spring – on the cable box cable. “Either they would give in or I would sneak into the family room,” he said.

Today, as an adult living in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, where he works as a content creator and part-time warehouse supervisor, he makes it a point to stay awake every time the clock changes to see it happen. produce live.

“This weekend I’m probably going to make a toast,” he said.

“I’m the type of person who likes the little things in life,” he added with a laugh. “They really lift me up, especially with all the bad things going on around us.”

Many people hate the end of daylight saving time, which will occur on Sunday. In fact, research from mental health brand Calm found that two in three people say they have difficulty adapting to change.

But others live in the moment when the clocks go back an hour, finding existential and spiritual meaning in staying up all night to watch it happen.

It is a tradition that they cherish even more as this practice may soon be abandoned. Last year, the Senate passed legislation make daylight saving time permanent. While the bill died in the House, similar measures legislation was reintroduced this year.

“I have to cherish every time change, because in maybe 20 years, young people will have no idea what it is,” Mr. Reifsnyder said. “We can share with them our experiences of what it was like.”

Clock watching has also become popular on TikTok, with some videos of the time change piling up millions of views.

“Did you notice this morning in the UK that time stopped, was delayed for an hour, and then started counting again,” Progress Oberiko, a writer and digital content manager, said in a statement. video she posted on TikTok October 29, the day the clocks go back in the United Kingdom (each country has its own time and not all regions of the world change their time). “Now who came up with the idea of ​​controlling the weather and why?”

Daylight saving time began in the United States in 1918 and is observed in every state other than Hawaii and Arizona. Many people think the idea is to reduce energy costs, but studies are mixed as to whether this is actually the case. Another argument for keeping DST is that it helps boost the economy because people stay out later, going to stores and restaurants, when it’s daylight. Studies are also mixed on the health benefits of change.

Ms Oberiko, 29, who now lives in London, is from Nigeria, where the clocks never change. “We learned about DST in geography in high school, but we didn’t get to see the practical side of it,” she said. “When I moved to London I knew I had to stay awake and watch.”

“It was just magical, the idea that time could go back,” she said. “It’s also like humans can change time!” We have so much control over everything around us.

She has now seen it several times and posted the latest experience on TikTok to share with her friends back home. “I will never miss a time change,” she said. “It’s so special.”

Sam Morris, 37, a journalist who lives on the Upper East Side, especially enjoys watching the clocks change in the fall because it adds an extra hour to the day.

He said he often has days where he thinks, “’I wish I had another hour,’” he said. The end of daylight saving time “is like when the universe gives me that extra hour that I always want.”

This Saturday evening, he will be at home, waiting for the clock to go from 1:59 to 1am. “At 1:45, it’s almost like a mini New Year’s Eve countdown,” he said.

Then Sunday morning he’s going to do something very special. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while,” he said. “I’ll go to a restaurant I’ve been wanting to try or a museum I haven’t been to in a while.”

“In the back of my mind, it feels like a gift,” he said. “And I have to make the most of it.”