In Search Of More Time
Over the past 60 years we’ve gradually devoted more time to leisure. But that could be changing.
It might not feel like it, but chances are you have quite a bit more leisure time than you would have had in decades gone by. Even more than that: it’s likely you spend more of your time out – maybe even out out – than in the past.
Using time-use data from 1961 to 2016 we can plot the proportion of time that the UK public spends in ‘third places’ – places that aren’t home or work and are typically the locations of leisure, community and social interaction. The data exclude time spent travelling. The chart isn’t boring (unusually for this newsletter) but instead is a favourite of mine (apologies if I’ve talked to you at length about it before).
This is one of those editions of Slow Futures where we consider a slow-changing trend, rather than one that isn’t really changing at all.
The simple message from the chart is that we spend more time out and about, more time doing leisure activities, more time socialising, more time with family and friends.
In numerical terms, we’ve gone from spending about 8% of our waking hours in leisure spaces to about 19%. That’s a significant shift, and it’s also one that’s happened very gradually. Our routines and habits are changing just enough to facilitate a few more minutes of leisure-time-per-day each year. But over 60 years – as demonstrated by this trend – it really adds up.
It's also not perfectly consistent. In 2011, during the economic downturn of that era, the time we spent out dropped a little. We couldn’t afford to be out as much so habits changed. We stayed in a bit more and spent a bit less. But by 2016 the trend had resumed its trajectory.
A key point about this trend is that time in the day is finite. It’s always 24 hours.
That means that activities like this are zero-sum: more time spent on out-of-home leisure means less time spent on other activities. Those trade-offs will vary depending on who you are and the kind of life you lead.
In some cases, the extra time will come from working a bit less. For others, the role of time saving devices and processes – tumble dryers, dishwashers, microwaves – can create opportunities for more time elsewhere. Other people will be living busier, more frenetic lives than were common in the past: burning the candle at both ends, perhaps sleeping less and relegating some things to secondary activities – like eating on the go.
But… our data only goes to 2016. We have some time-use data from 2020, collected during the first lockdown and again in late summer. The findings are unique to the circumstances of that year and unsurprisingly show a lot less time spent out and about. But other trends since 2020 suggest a weakening in the consumer appetite for leisure.
This is something we’ve explored before, but in a nutshell: between 1990 and 2020 the ‘importance’ people placed on leisure remained steady and high. But since 2020 it has declined. We’re less likely to see leisure as important to us.
What does this mean?
There isn’t anything we enjoy more than out of home leisure. We’ve devoted more time to it over the past 60 years and more spending too. After 2011, leisure spending recovered much more quickly than other areas. It was one of the main areas consumers prioritised. The same is likely to happen in 2023-24 too – our latest optimism and spending data suggests cost of living concerns are easing and the first place consumers will be heading is the pub.
A lot of the extra time we spend in third places now is pretty basic. It isn’t all high concept, experiential, fomo-inducing socialising. A lot of it is just coffees and lunches. In fact, that’s one major reason why the time we spend in third places is increasing – we’re taking things that used to happen at home and putting them in more social places.
We have to update our understanding of what third places are over time. Pubs, restaurants and cafes are perennial. But gyms are increasingly used for social interaction while nightclubs decline.
At the same time, the data raises the prospect that our leisure appetites may be sated. It’s possible that recent declines in the importance of leisure are purely a function of the cost of living crisis. But other evidence – such as that behind our Time Millionaires trend – suggest that many people are looking for a slower pace of life. Is it also possible that we’ve run out of ways to add to our leisure time? Or is ChatGPT (and other LLMs) the dishwasher of the 21st century?