This is an idea whose time, as it were, may have come once more.

The twice-yearly clock changes in the United States could become a thing of the past if proposed legislation currently before Congress, which advocates for permanent daylight saving time, is passed.

However, despite the annoyance many feel about the biannual time shifts in spring and autumn, adopting a single time standard might not be as well-received as expected.

The United States has tried this before, most recently in the 1970s, and it did not last.

We now live in a new era, characterized by a rise in remote work among those who previously commuted, and advances in sleep science that reveal a more nuanced story.

Could this temporal shift prove to be the decisive factor?

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass a bill that would render daylight saving time — the practice of advancing clocks by one hour — permanent.

Currently, the shift occurs forward in spring and back to standard time in autumn as a means of providing people with more daylight during summer evenings.

However, the semi-annual change has few supporters — an AP-NORC poll conducted last year revealed that only 12% of American adults favoured it, while nearly half opposed it.

Proponents of a single time include the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine — organisations for whom daily rhythms are of profound importance.

The Senate would need to pass it before it could be signed into law, and President Donald Trump has indicated his support.

Not so fast.

While people may be reluctant to embrace the change, historical evidence suggests they are equally averse to enduring even less morning light during the winter months, when daylight hours are naturally shorter than in summer.

In 1973, Congress enacted legislation establishing permanent daylight saving time, intended as a trial period from January 1974 to April 1975.

However, it was repealed in October following public backlash.

A key concern was that schoolchildren would have to travel to school in darkness.

Nowadays, school start times have begun to shift later.

Kevin Birth, a professor of anthropology at Queens College whose research focuses on cultural concepts of time, was attending elementary school in Syracuse, New York, at the time and recalls the experience with striking clarity.

“I had to get up for school and it was like it was midnight,” he said.

“It was just pitch black and it remained pitch black into the school day.”

If the U.S. decides to try this again, he asserted, more than just the clocks would have to be altered.

The nation's time zones would also need adjustment.

The current four zones are inadequate—they cover such large areas that sunrise occurs at different times in the western and eastern parts of each zone.