Harris Interactive | The Harris Poll - Reading and TV Watching Still Favorite Activities, But Both Have Seen Drops

The Harris Poll^® #115, November 15, 2007

Reading and TV Watching Still Favorite Activities, But Both Have Seen Drops

Americans Are Also Spending Less Time Working

In the three years since The Harris Poll^® last asked Americans to detail their two or three favorite leisure time activities, things have remained the same, yet at the same time, changed. Topping the list of favorite activities are reading, TV watching and spending time with friends and family. While these are the same top three as in 2004, what has changed is the percentage of people who cite these as their favorites. In all three cases, the numbers have dropped. Over one-third (35%) cited reading in 2004, this year that is down to 29 percent. TV watching has dropped from 21 percent to 18 percent and spending time with friends and family has dropped from 20 percent to 14 percent.

Rounding out the top five leisure time activities are computer activities, which has risen from seven percent to nine percent and going to the movies, which has dropped from 10 percent to seven percent.

These are some of the results of a Harris Poll of 1,052 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone by Harris Interactive^® between October 16 and 23, 2007.

Biggest Changes Since 1995

Besides the large changes from 2004, there are also major changes since this survey was first started in 1995. The largest increases in popularity in 12 years are computer activities, perhaps not surprisingly as new technologies have increased (up seven points from 2% to 9%), watching sporting events (up four points), exercise (up three points) and crafts (up three points).

The biggest declines in popularity over the last 12 years are in T.V. watching (down seven points), sewing/crocheting (down five points), entertaining (down four points) and swimming (down four points). With the current writer’s strike impacting the television season, and potentially turning more people away from TV as their favorite shows go into reruns, this downturn in TV watching must be a concern to the studio executives.

Hours Working and Available for Leisure

The number of hours spent working (including housekeeping and studying) dropped from a median of 50 hours in 2004 to a median of 45 hours this year. This is the first time it has been this low since 1975 when it was at 43 hours.

The number of hours available for leisure per week has not changed much since 2004. Currently it is 20 hours and in 2004 it was 19 hours

TABLE 1

FAVORITE LEISURE-TIME ACTIVITIES

(Spontaneous, Unaided Responses)

"What are your two or three most favorite leisure-time activities?"

Base: All Adults

	1995	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2007
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Reading	28	28	30	27	31	28	26	24	35	29
TV watching	25	19	21	22	23	20	15	17	21	18
Spending time with family/kids	12	12	13	12	14	12	11	17	20	14
Computer activities	2	3	3	7	6	7	4	5	7	9
Going to movies	8	7	8	8	6	7	6	7	10	7
Fishing	10	12	11	13	9	12	8	9	8	7
Gardening	9	11	14	15	13	10	8	6	6	6
Walking	8	8	7	9	8	6	4	4	6	6
Playing team sports	9	9	9	8	5	5	7	6	5	6
Exercise (aerobics, weights)	2	4	3	3	6	5	4	6	6	5
Golf	6	8	6	6	5	6	5	3	4	5
Church/church activities	3	4	2	3	4	3	2	5	4	5
Listening to music	5	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	4
Watching sporting events	*	*	2	5	4	2	2	5	3	4
Shopping	3	3	3	4	3	4	2	4	5	4
Socializing with friends/neighbors	*	*	2	5	6	4	5	7	4	4
Traveling	4	5	4	4	5	4	4	4	4	4
Playing music	3	2	2	3	3	2	1	3	3	3
Entertaining	7	3	5	3	2	1	2	3	5	3
Renting movies	5	5	3	4	5	4	3	3	6	3
Eating out/dining out	2	2	2	2	1	1	2	5	2	3
Hunting	4	4	4	6	3	3	3	4	5	3
Crafts (unspecified)	*	*	*	3	4	4	2	4	3	3
Swimming	7	6	7	6	5	8	5	2	2	3
Camping	4	3	3	4	4	3	2	1	2	3
Bicycling	4	3	3	3	2	3	3	2	3	3
Outdoor activities	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	1	3
Sewing/crocheting	7	4	8	4	3	3	3	3	4	2
Relaxing	*	*	1	3	3	3	3	3	3	2
Playing cards	*	*	*	*	*	*	1	2	2	2
Hiking	3	3	2	2	1	*	3	3	2	2
Housework	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	2	3	2
Cooking	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	3	2	2
Working on cars	2	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	2
Boating	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	1	2	2
Animals/pets/dogs	*	*	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	2
Painting	2	1	1	2	1	1	2	1	1	2
Dancing	1	*	2	1	1	1	1	2	1	2
Horseback riding	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	3	1	2
Sleeping	2	3	1	2	2	2	3	2	4	1
Running	2	1	1	2	1	1	2	1	1	1
Writing	*	*	*	*	*	1	1	1	2	1
Bowling	4	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1
Motorcycling	*	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Woodworking	1	*	1	2	1	1	2	1	2	1
Skiing	1	*	*	1	1	1	1	2	2	1
Tennis	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Other activities mentioned by one percent include racing, beach, concerts, theater and gambling.

* Less than 0.5%.

TABLE 2

BIGGEST INCREASES SINCE 1995

		1995	2007	CHANGE
Computer activities	%	2	9	+7
Watching sporting events	%	*	4	+4
Exercise	%	2	5	+3
Crafts	%	*	3	+3

* Less than 0.5% percent.

TABLE 3

BIGGEST DECLINES SINCE 1995

		1995	2007	CHANGE
T.V. Watching	%	25	18	-7
Sewing/Crocheting	%	7	2	-5
Entertaining	%	7	3	-4
Swimming	%	7	3	-4

TABLE 4

WORK HOURS PER WEEK

"First, we would like to know approximately how many hours a week you spend at your job or occupation, and that includes keeping house or going to school as well as working for pay or profit. How many hours would you estimate you spend at work, housekeeping or studies, including any travel time to and from the job or school?"

Base: All Adults

Year	Median Number of Work Hours
2007	45
2004	50
2003	49
2002	47
2001	50
2000	50
1999	50
1998	50
1997	51
1995	51
1994	51
1993	50
1989	49
1987	47
1984	47
1980	47
1975	43
1973	41

TABLE 5

HOURS AVAILABLE FOR LEISURE PER WEEK

"And about how many hours each week do you estimate you have available to relax, watch TV, take part in sports or hobbies, go swimming or skiing, go to the movies, theater, concerts, or other forms of entertainment, get together with friends, and so forth?"

Base: All Adults

Year	Median Number of Leisure Hours
2007	20
2004	19
2003	19
2002	20
2001	20
2000	20
1999	20
1998	19
1997	20
1995	19
1994	20
1993	19
1989	19
1987	17
1984	18
1980	19
1975	24
1973	26

Methodology

The Harris Poll^® was conducted by telephone within the United States between October 16 and 23, 2007 among 1,052 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region, number of adults in the household, size of place (urbanicity) and number of phone lines in the household were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

J31986

Q555, 560, 565