Every year, just like a bad habit, we complain about daylight saving time. Phones automatically adjust, clocks need to be set back an hour, coffee pots brew an hour earlier than necessary and social media explodes with people groaning about losing (or gaining) an hour of sleep.

While this timely ritual is expected, the collective annoyance still manages to surprise us twice a year. The only thing predictable is our attitude and bitterness to the day every March and November.

Daylight saving time has outlived and outstayed its welcome. In our screen-obsessed, blue light world, the supposed benefit of an hour more of daylight in the morning has lost its meaning.  Daylight saving time was created during World War I as a way to conserve power and fuel and work later in the day.

Daylight saving only confuses our circadian rhythms and makes pets who revolve around a set feeding time crankier. Yet, every March and November, politicians make noise about finally getting rid of it, as if this time they’ll actually do something about it. They don’t, and the day that even children have begun to groan about comes and passes.

The debate on getting rid of daylight saving time has gotten as pointless as the fall back or gain of one hour. The United States is one of a small number of countries worldwide — about 40% — that still observes daylight saving time. We know it’s unnecessary, and most people want it gone,  but it’s always easier to complain than to coordinate change, isn’t it?

The day has become less about saving daylight and more about our collective inaction to fix something everyone agrees is useless because we can’t come together to change it. So, we’ll just keep setting our clocks, grumble and pretend we’re surprised every November and March, year after year, for a day that’s only still alive because of our misgivings.