Time as we know it is a cultural artifact that takes its cues from nature—the motion of the sun, the oscillations of a quartz crystal or a caesium-133 atom—but that is shaped and chopped up according to the needs and notions of modern societies. Time zones were invented to keep railroads running smoothly (or at least to keep the trains from running into each other), and during World War I, the nations of Europe and North America jolted the hours in the day to favor longer summer afternoons in the name of efficiency, and later on of commerce and leisure. Since then, Daylight Saving Time has been enacted, repealed, reenacted and moved around by governments worldwide according to the shifting mandates of efficiency, convenience, and sheer comprehensibility. In any case, on 2am this November 1, almost all of North America (bar most of Arizona and a few Canadian counties) collectively Fell Back, and then fell back asleep to enjoy that extra hour we’d misplaced last March. And so this week we ask, What does daylight saving time make of the world?

—Nate Barksdale