After squandering daylight since November, the US will stop its spendthrift ways regarding daylight and start saving daylight on Sunday, March 8 at 2 a.m.

In fact, one can question whether there is a 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 8 because 2 a.m. officially becomes 3 a.m., and that is how the country saves daylight. So one can legitimately question whether there is a 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 8. But one thing is for certain there is no 2:01 a.m. on Sunday, March 8.

Since smart phone ownership is almost universal, there is really no need to mark the day the time moves forward an hour because smart phones know that, just like they know pretty much everything else.

The current Daylight Saving Time period from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November was set by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which amended the Uniform Time Act of 1966 with this language: “(a) …During the period commencing at 2 o’clock antemeridian on the second Sunday of March of each year and ending at 2 o’clock antemeridian on the first Sunday of November of each year, the standard time of each zone established by sections 261 to 264 of this title, as modified by section 265 of this title, shall be advanced one hour and such time as so advanced shall for the purposes of such sections 261 to 264, as so modified, be the standard time of such zone during such period;”

So if you were wondering how to say, turn your clocks forward an hour in “federal-speak,” that’s how you do it.

As the title of the act indicates, the stated reason for everyone losing an hour of sleep every spring is to save energy. However there is no conclusive scientific evidence that turning the clocks forward in March saves energy. One study showed that there was an energy savings of 0.03 percent, but another study showed that more energy was actually consumed because of Daylight Saving Time.

So maybe the country is saving energy and maybe it isn’t, but everyone is losing an hour of sleep that is graciously given back the first Sunday in November.