1. Older people are watching more TV while younger people are watching less.
Those 65 and older spend an average of more than 4 hours per day watching TV. That’s up from about 3.7 hours a decade ago.
But young people are watching slightly less TV than they did in 2005. Those 15 to 24 average 2.25 hours of TV each day, more on the weekends.
The younger demographic is spending more time on games and computer use — averaging more than an hour a day on the weekends.
No one is doing much reading, exercising or just relaxing and thinking.
The survey found Americans spend an average of between 17 and 19 minutes per day doing each of those things.
2. Women spend more time doing household activities.
On an average day, 85 percent of women and 67 percent of men spent some time doing household activities such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other household management.
Women spent an average of 2.6 hours per day on such activities, while men spent 2.1 hours.
From 2003 to 2015, the share of men doing food preparation and cleanup on an average day increased from 35 percent to 43 percent. The share of women doing housework on an average day decreased from 54 percent to 50 percent.
3. Women spend double the hours on child care as men.
On weekdays, women spend an average of 1 hour, 52 minutes caring for children as their primary activity. In households with a child under 6 that average is 2 hours, 40 minutes.
For men the average is 54 minutes, or 1 hour, 18 minutes with a small child.
4. Professionals are working from home more.
Compared to workers with less education, people 25 and over with a bachelor’s degree or higher were the most likely to do some or all of their work from home — 39 percent, up from 34 percent in 2005.
By comparison, 93 percent of workers with less than a high school diploma worked at their workplace while only 7 percent worked from home.
We’re exploring this trend further in a story in the Dayton Daily News next week.
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