Surprising research shows modern life is not as rushed as we think 

With the relentless advancement of technology in the modern world, it feels like the pace of life is only getting quicker. People seem busier than ever before – working harder and sleeping less. 

But is this really the case? New research from University College London’s Centre for Time Use Research has found it might actually be the opposite.  

In their book, ‘What We Really Do All Day, Insights from the Centre For Time Use Research’ professors Jonathan Gershuny and Oriel Sullivan used data from Britons’ time diaries from 2014-15. 

For the survey, 8,000 randomly selected people recorded their activities at 10-minute intervals over two full randomly selected days. The professors then compared these 16,000 ‘diary days’ to earlier time diaries spanning more than five decades. 

Gershuny and Sullivan conclude in What We Really Do All Day that the ‘speeded-up’ and 24/7 society may be little more than a myth

The professors found that over the last five decades the total amount of time Britons spend doing both paid and unpaid work – including cooking, childcare, cleaning and gardening – has decreased. 

In 1961, working-age men did an average of 573 minutes (around nine-and-a-half hours) of total work (paid and unpaid) and women did 511 minutes, about an hour less.

In 2015, this had fallen to 483 minutes (roughly eight hours) for men and 494 minutes for women. 

The decrease of an hour and a half for men has been far steeper than that of women, whose total working time dropped by only 17 minutes. Consequently, women now work slightly more than men.  

Including both paid and unpaid jobs, women now work slightly more minutes in a day than men

Including both paid and unpaid jobs, women now work slightly more minutes in a day than men 

There has also been a convergence in the division of household work and paid work, with men doing more unpaid work and women doing more paid work since 1961. 

However, work is still not divided equally. In 2015, women did 248 minutes – four hours and eight minutes – of unpaid work a day on average, with men doing just over half of that – 139 minutes, about two hours twenty minutes. 

Men also do more paid work than women; averaging 344 minutes a day in 2015 compared to women’s 246 minutes. 

And in one aspect of daily life – leisure time – gender parity has actually worsened. 

Men and women both enjoyed roughly 4 hours and 50 minutes of leisure time in 1961 but in 2015 men had around 45 minutes more each day, while women’s leisure time only increased by five minutes.

‘It seems to have levelled off,’ Sullivan writes. ‘Gender attitudes are changing in the acceptance of greater equality, but, for instance, when parental leave is available very few men take it up.  

When it comes to sleep, both men and women are actually getting more sleep than in 1961

When it comes to sleep, both men and women are actually getting more sleep than in 1961

‘And women still seem to be considered — and consider themselves — “responsible” for the household chores.’

Comparing the 2015 data from that of the year 2000, Gershuny and Sullivan concluded that there is ‘little evidence for any speed-up in the tempo of daily activities’. In fact, far fewer people reported that they ‘always felt rushed’ in 2015 than in 2000.  

The authors also pointedly observed that there was a time when we always want to seem busy as a signal of our social status. 

‘That particular thing of being very upfront about how busy you were is less of a marker of social status now than it used to be,’ Gershuny writes.         

It is true however, that although the average family spends as much time together today as they did in 2000, there has been a decrease in ‘engaged’ time – when families actually interact rather than just spend time in each other’s presence.     

Men are doing more unpaid work, such as childcare, gardening and housework, since 1961 but still not as much as women

Men are doing more unpaid work, such as childcare, gardening and housework, since 1961 but still not as much as women

This has been partly attributed to a decline in families doing household tasks and watching television together, as well as the rise in smartphones and other personal digital devices.     

When it comes to sleep, both men and women are actually getting more sleep than in 1961. In 2015 men and women spent on average 8 hours and 30 minutes sleeping in bed, an increase of 15 minutes for women and 45 minutes for men.

‘The question to ask is why is it that there’s this perception that sleep has decreased?,’ the authors ask.  

‘It’s one of these things where you have an expectation: “A 24/7 society means you sleep less”,’ and yet that is demonstrably not the case.  

Gershuny and Sullivan conclude in What We Really Do All Day that the ‘speeded-up’ and 24/7 society may be little more than a myth.

‘The idea of a generalised speed-up in our time may actually be more of a “folk narrative” about rapid changes in society than a real experience of our daily lives,’ they write.

What We Really Do All Day, Insights from the Centre For Time Use Research by Jonathan Gershuny and Oriel Sullivan, published by Pelican Books, will be released on June 27 

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