Americans Have Plenty of Free Time. We Just Don’t Know How to Use It

• The average American has way more “free” time than you might think.
• But most of us spend the majority of our leisure time staring at screens. 
• Picking up a new hobby can be a good way to reset — but that’s easier said than done.

It’s another Tuesday night, and work is winding down. I send my last Slack messages for the evening, fire off a few emails, and shut my laptop with a false sense of finality as if I don’t have to return to my desk in sixteen short hours.

I make the short trek from my at-home office to the couch, where I grab the remote and settle in for yet another night of “Real Housewives” viewing. Before I know it, four hours have passed. My eyes are heavy, and it’s time for bed. So long, Tuesday.

That’s how it goes on Wednesday and Thursday, too. Maybe I’ll grab drinks with friends on Friday or switch out reality TV for the newest Netflix movie come Monday, but generally speaking, I spend most of my adult life eating, sleeping, working, and scrolling to the ambient sounds of the telly. It’s a far cry from the schedule I kept as a teenager, sprinting from play rehearsal to swim practice and still finding time for homework and socializing in between.

It’s true that Americans are overworked, overstressed, and generally awful at unplugging from work, two time-use researchers told Business Insider.

But that only tells half the story.

Americans, on average, have between four to six hours of leisure time every day, according to the American Time Use Survey, which measures the amount of time people spend doing various activities. In 2022, men spent an average of 5.6 hours engaging in leisure activities each day, while women clocked in 4.8 hours of free time, according to the study.

Five hours of free time a day? That can’t be right! If I had 25 extra hours each workweek, I certainly would have mastered the piano or written a novel by now, right? Wrong. Instead, all I have to show for my free time is an ungodly knowledge of Bravo lore.

Researchers say I’m not alone in languishing away my leisure time. Several facets of American life, including our reverence for work, our failing social safety net, and the Puritanical ideals on which our country was founded, all play a role in Americans’ seeming inability to unwind in meaningful ways, researchers said.

TV time

Two elements define leisure: choice and control, according to Brigid Schulte, author of “Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play when No One has the Time” and director of the Better Life Lab. People have to choose an activity freely and have control over the time they spend doing it.

That’s why, for much of human history, leisure time was out of reach for the masses, restricted to those with the social standing and status to engage in it — namely, rich men.

“It used to be that having discretionary time and being able to engage in leisure activity was a mark you were of a high social class,” said Liana Sayer, director of the University of Maryland’s Time Use Lab. “If you could do what you wanted with your time, it meant other people were providing the necessities of life for you.”

That changed with industrialization, Sayer said. But the idea that those who have more money also have more time is one that still holds true today. People who work steady, 9-to-5 jobs with predictable schedules are much more likely to find extra time in their day, Sayer said. Gig workers and hourly employees, on the other hand, are increasingly reliant on multiple jobs and unpredictable schedules.

Despite class differences, 95% of Americans over the age of 15 engaged in some kind of leisure activity on a typical day, according to the 2022 time-use survey. The leisure category encompasses pastimes like socializing, exercising, and reading for pleasure.

But the vast majority of Americans’ leisure time is spent — you guessed it — in front of the television. Watching TV is the most popular leisure activity, accounting for an average of 2.8 hours a day — more than half of all Americans’ leisure time.

Much has been made about America’s co-dependant relationship with the tube. (Some influential time researchers have argued Americans’ social skills started to decline when air conditioning and television became commonplace, allowing people to remain both comfortable and entertained without leaving their homes, Sayer said.) But whether the small screen rots our brains or helps us relax, the act of watching TV is often an inherently anti-social one, researchers said.

It’s easy to flip on the TV after a busy day at work because it requires almost no planning and very little brain engagement. Partaking in an out-of-the-house activity or making plans with other people, meanwhile, takes organization and coordination.

Our reliance on TV is part of a larger trend that has seen Americans engage less and less with other people and pro-social institutions like church or volunteer groups, Sayers said, adding that this is a pre-pandemic pattern. While COVID-19 certainly shifted our approach to work and leisure, it can’t be solely blamed for Americans’ increasing loneliness.

Sexism and the safety net

There is also a gendered element at play when it comes to Americans’ leisure time. Married mothers do about three times the amount of housework, and twice as much childcare as married fathers do, Sayer said. There’s some evidence that men are starting to step up their contributions post-pandemic, according to Sayer. However, much of women’s “free” time is still dedicated to household duties and parenting.

“Most women don’t feel like they deserve leisure time,” Schulte said. “They feel like they have to earn it.”

That mindset is not unique to American women and dates as far back as biblical times, researchers said. Women have long been transforming their leisure time into productive activities, from starting sewing circles to socializing at the watering hole, Schulte said.

But Americans’ toxic relationship with leisure isn’t gender-specific. A valorization of “hard work” was built into the very founding of our country, Schulte said. As a result, Americans have an intrinsic desire to be busy; we take it as a point of pride to overwork ourselves and cultivate little societal respect for hobbies and recreation. And Americans have been getting busier and busier over the course of the last few decades, increasingly to the detriment of their civic and social life, Schulte said.

“A lot of that panic and anxiety can be tied back to the ’70s and ’80s and the dismantling of the social safety net,” she added.

When it comes to prioritizing leisure time, America could take some cues from its European friends. Norwegians average more than six hours of leisure time each day. At the same time, the Belgians and Greeks pursue relaxation and hobbies for more than five-and-a-half hours each day on average, according to time use data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The US ranked 21 in global leisure time.

But America today lacks much of the infrastructure that would allow people to fully embrace and prioritize their leisure time, researchers said. People can’t take the time to learn a new skill or truly unwind without robust maternity leave, affordable childcare, a better work-life balance, and dependable healthcare in place, Schulte said.

European countries far outrank the US when it comes to social spending. In 2019, France spent nearly a third of its gross domestic product on services related to health, family, unemployment, housing, and other benefits, according to OECD data compiled by the World Economic Forum. Finland, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain, Japan, and the UK all dedicated 20% or more of their spending to social services, while the US ranked ninth with 18.7%.

“A lot needs to change big-picture with policymakers and business leaders,” Schulte said of the US. “But people can’t wait until then to pick up a new hobby.”

Most adults struggle to remember what they even liked to do as a kid, which is one of the reasons TV has become the national default leisure activity. Schulte recommends starting small: Set a timer for 30 minutes each day and practice developing the muscle of first remembering what you like to do and then giving it a try.

Beginning ballet

The best way to recover and “refresh your soul,” as the Greeks described it, is to completely detach from work and take a proper break, according to Ciara Kelly, a lecturer in work psychology at The University of Sheffield.

Hobbies are particularly good for that, Kelly said, citing a 2019 study she led that found people who engaged in hobbies enjoyed improved confidence and saw benefits at their jobs.

The study’s findings resonated with me. I had been an activity-driven adolescent, someone who found purpose and community in my hobbies and passions. I missed having an identity outside my work and media consumption.

So, I did what any rational 26-year-old journalist would: I signed up for a beginner’s ballet class.

It was terrifying. I hadn’t worn ballet slippers since I was four years old. I had no idea what the French words flying out of my teacher’s mouth meant. My balance was terrible, and my flexibility left much to be desired.

In those first few weeks, I came dangerously close to quitting, nearly falling prey to the achievement-oriented culture that runs rampant in America.

“We’re focused on doing and being the best — even in yoga classes — people have written about trying to outdo others as if we’re in constant competition,” Schulte told me. “But leisure requires none of that.”

So, I kept going back. Even though I wasn’t the best one in my class. Even though I sometimes (often) looked silly. And for 50 minutes every Monday night, I feel like a kid again.