Looking for a cheat code in life?
Check out this video on the way Americans have spent their time from 1920 through today.
It’s fascinating.
For a long time, Americans spent enormous amounts of time on housework, cooking, eating, and “doing nothing.”
Also, “having sex” was on the list from 1920 through 1945 when television appeared, knocking it off the list. It reappeared on the list from 1969-1987, but browsing the internet knocked it off permanently.
How sad.
Reading books has held steady on the list until 2007, when streaming television entered the list, knocking it off permanently.
Also sad.
“Meeting friends” went from one of the most popular things to do in 1920 to being knocked off the list in 2017 with the rise of texting, social media, streaming television, online shopping, and other solitary activities that consumed people’s time.
Want to know why we have an epidemic of loneliness in this country?
It’s simple:
People are choosing to be alone. They would rather interact with a screen than human beings.
Exercise, however, appears on the list every year and steadily grows over time. For all the time Americans are wasting on screens, they are exercising more than ever before.
It’s also an interesting look into how people spend their time today:
141 minutes streaming television
103 minutes scrolling social media
88 minutes watching TV
42 minutes browsing the internet
24 minutes watching pornography
69 minutes playing video games
That’s almost eight hours every day spent consuming content on a screen. Nearly a third of the day.
Watch to succeed in life?
Get ahead?
Win the day?
Make a name for yourself?
Make your dreams come true?
Do productive things while everyone else is staring at their screens.
That’s your cheat code:
When everyone else sucks, it takes decidedly less effort and time to shine.
