The XX Factor: What women really think.



  • Watching TV vs. Thinking


    So glad that Ann pointed readers to the save-the-time-use-survey campaign. It would be heartbreaking to lose a source like that, which—like reports by the National Center for Health Statistics, and the Census Bureau—offer such valuable real-time snapshots into our lives, health, and well-being, all of which are affected by, and affect, policy. For a journalist there are few more productive (and pleasant) activities than curling up with a source that provides data on who is doing the housework, how much time working parents are able to spend with their children (or each other), how much time adults spend caring for elderly parents, etc. I wonder why the administration is anxious to defund it—it's so cheap! For my part, just glancing at the Web site and calling up the data for leisure time, it's interesting to know that Americans spend 2.6 hours a day watching television, but just 19 minutes "relaxing and thinking." I wonder how multitasking will eventually affect the pie charts: What if you are driving and applying mascara at the same time? Shopping and talking on your cell phone? Lying in bed in the middle of the night, worrying? They'll need more than 24 hours in a day. I wish they'd expand it to include more categories. It's hugely worthwhile social research, for policymakers, journalists, and future scholars, about the way we live now.   

     

       

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