How Americans Spend Their Day
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal reported on a study about how Americans spend their time during the day. The results come from a representative sample (small number of people chosen randomly, but who represent the general population) of Americans age 15 or older. This means that there may be no single American who actually spends his or her time exactly this way each day, since it is just an average for the group. Still, it gives you a rough (approximate; general) idea about the relative (considered in relation to something else) importance of different activities for the “typical” person living in the United States.
Here are some of the categories, from most time to least:
- Sleeping: 8 hours, 40 minutes
- Working or work-related activities: 3 hours, 32 minutes
- Watching television: 2 hours, 49 minutes
- Leisure (relaxing) and sports activities (excluding (not including) watching TV): 2 hours, 26 minutes
- Household activities (cleaning, etc.): 1 hour, 48 minutes
- Eating and drinking: 1 hour, 13 minutes
- Personal care (such as showering, getting dressed, putting on make-up): 47 minutes
- Buying things: 46 minutes
- Education (could be professional reading, attending classes, listening to ESL Podcast): 28 minutes
- Caring for household (people who live at your house) members (such as young children or babies): 32 minutes
- Organizational, civic (community), and religious activities: 20 minutes
- Caring for non-household members (such as elderly parents): 13 minutes
- Telephone calls, mail, and email: 12 minutes
Some of these times are almost certainly averaged out across (dividing into the different parts of) the week. For example, if you spend 2 hours and 20 minutes volunteering for a religious organization or community group, that would average out to (result in a statistical “mean” or average amount of) 20 minutes a day, even if you did all of your volunteering on a single day of the weekend.
How do these times — or at least the relative importance of these activities — compare with your life? What do you think would be different for people living in your country (if you live outside the United States)? Personally, I know I spend less time sleeping (7 hours average), more time working (8 hours average), and a lot more time on email!
~Jeff
Photo: Wikipedia lkescs (CC-BY-SA)
July 15th, 2010 at 9:42 am
well, one of the interesting topics for me, and one of the taboo subjects for almost everyone I know, is time management, thanks Dr Jeff for this beneficial article, I think this type of statistics give us rough idea about how do we spend your life time?, I think we should take that into consideration, I want to point out that we are exaggerating in running errands, and eating food, not to mention shopping time, 46 minutes for god sake !!!
relaxing time seems reasonable though as well as sleeping, but work and TV is considerably very very long per single day…
I am 18 years old, I guess I have to reschedule my time from the beginning of the day.. well, at least not to regret the time I waste in the future .
originally from Libya now living in beautiful Athens, Greece
July 16th, 2010 at 5:56 am
I take the sum for all of above time and it shows onl 23.76667 hours/day. Where is 0.23333 hours (14 mins)?
July 16th, 2010 at 8:58 am
Time management.
How do I spend/waste my time? How do I usually manage my time?
In the business days I usually spend most of my time in the job. I arrive at 8:30 a.m and I usually leave at 7 p.m.
To manage my time at work, the first thing I do is a list calling “To do” and I organize by priority.
My lunch time was over. So I´d better go back to work…..
July 16th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
I don’t work , so, I spend four hours in the net, 7 hours sleeping, 3 hours shopping, 2 hours takink care for non-household members, 1 hour taking care of myself, 2 hours learning English, and 5 hours relaxing = 24 hours;
July 16th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
i often spent 7 hours sleeping,12 hours working,1 hour listening to the podcast,and other time it will take 2 hours on my way home from company.
July 17th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Some days, five six or even more one after another, I use to spend 24 hours at home…..
7 sleeping, the Mac is 14 hours on and as I am doing the house chores I am listening to the ESL also cooking or doing three
or more things simultaneously.
I like to read, listen to the music, some movie, and writing or reading in the Blog.
Usually I read lot of newspapers at the web, in the mornings, afternoon, and at night.
I use to do other works at the Mac just for pleasure or in the way of having something nice to see or to listen.
I don´t watch the TV., only half an hour at night the news report.
After lunch I have my little “siesta”….it´s one of the best moments of the day.
If I have to buy food or anything more it is just the time of going out, have a walk and see other people faces.
Well I am retired so my life doesn´t count to this study.
May be that if I was living on the country or at the sea side my life would be more healthy, but in Madrid the
most nice place to me is always at home.
Now is 22 p.m.and the temperature it´s near 32ºC at the streets…..or even more.
Yes, I know that now I live like a king.
Sorry Linda, too much work for you, but may be you like it?
July 17th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
sleep 6 hours
study 4 hous
talk or play or walk with my mom 4 hours
take a nap 2 hour
eat and shower 2 hours
work 6 hours
July 17th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
For me sleeping usually 7 hours, since im preparing for university studying 8 hours (including studying at home and attending some classess), personal care 1 hour, eating 1.5 hour, leisure time (for me leisure time is watching tv{NEWS channels in English} and listening to EC and ESLPOD) 2 hours, with the internet 2 or more hours. Anther 3.5 hours for sport, bying and religious activities.
July 17th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Hi,
I work in a Rresearch company from Saturday to Wednesday, from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.
It takes an hour to go to work, so I leave home at 7:00 am
It takes one hour and half to reach home so I’m at home 5:30 pm
3 days of the week I have to be at work 2 extra hours and when I reach home it’s 7:30
So I’m too tired to do my household activities. They are accumulated and I have to do them at the weekends.
One and half hour I watch TV, news and my best serials.
3 hours for personal car/ miscellaneous activities, like doing exercise, eating, washing dishes, taking shower, talking, praying, listening to music and …
I sleep 5 or 6 hours a day, but I need more.
By the way I’m a student and I study at Open University, a freshman. Unfortunately I don’t have enough time to study well, just 2 hours. Most of the time I read my books when I’m on my way to work/ home, plus I listen to some podcast which I have in my MP4, to improve my English.
Fortunately I have two days off every week, Thursday and Friday, so I can make up other things that I couldn’t do them during the week.
Thanks’ Jeff, for practical words.
July 18th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Well I have to add that I spend nearly an hour or two by day playing with “Gatufo” that is the name of our cat.
The cat is only nine months but “He” is incredible nice and clever, sometimes when I am sitting in front of the computer
Gatufo comes, jump on me and I couldn´t do anything but caring the cat softly, as Gatufo is always expecting my cares to
Him.
Gatufo folows me every place I go through the house and He said me things that I can´t understand,…just a pity.
This cat has changed all our life just from the moment my daugter brought us this nice gift.
Cuca didn´t like cats before but now she loves our Gatufo the nicest living thing of our close world.
P.D. Jeff, the cat of Texas didn´t go to your house, “He” came to Madrid ……to our house, sorry but now the cat is here.
July 18th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Hi! At night I often listen to “Summertime” watching the “Flock of Seagulls”. It is just my own silhouette running between the seagulls on the beach.
Where are my wings?
July 18th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Hi! Nice name Gatufo. And a very, very good friend.
July 18th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
I think I don’t watch tv. Sometimes I watch my soccer team when it’s on tv, but nothing more. I spend 4 hous with my girlfriend. I’m unemployed at the moment, and then I spend a lot of time in the internet I guess 4 hours by day.. I sleep nearly 9 hours.. I like to study at morning. When I’m studying English language I listen mindedly the podcast with a mp3 (especially for that) and I write some vocabulary to upgrade my skills in English. The rest is household activities, go shopping, take care of my birds (two budgerigars).
July 19th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Hi! We all are very , very impatients to see you in your Superman suit. We cannot wait for until September.
By the way, I have a Supergirl suit, too.
July 19th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Hi! This is really interesting to know the way the Americans spend their time.
August 5th, 2010 at 12:32 am
on working day:
8 hours office
4 hours on road to office(far from my house)
6-7hours sleeping
1 hours eating & snaping
2-4 hours video game(include TV & DVD)
1 hours personal affair(bath,rush teeth,wash hand,chat with family…)
weedend
10-14 hours Video Game(inclued pc game & browers intenet)
8-10 sleeping
1 hour find food
1 hour shopping
1-2 other(personal affair)