National News
For today's family, time's not on their side; Hectic schedules, longer
work weeks contribute to less togetherness than in 80s
JILL MAHONEY
SOCIAL TRENDS REPORTER
14 February 2007
The Globe and Mail <javascript:void(0)>
Weeknights at the Booth household are hectic, and Wednesday is a
scheduling nightmare. Tonight, Duane and Brenda Booth, who both work,
will ferry each of their three children to different after-school
activities in a volley of logistics that begins with a 4 p.m. swim time
and ends with a gymnastics lesson that wraps up at 8:30 p.m.
On an average weekday, Mr. Booth spends about four hours with his loved
ones. His family makes a point of spending quality time during the
weekends, though the kids, who are 9, 12 and 15, are also busy with
ringette and hockey.
"It's a pretty busy life we lead," said Mr. Booth, a 47-year-old sales
and marketing representative who lives in Richmond Hill, a suburb north
of Toronto. "More down time, I think, would be nice."
Indeed, many Canadians struggle to balance careers with families. A
Statistics Canada study released yesterday found that people are
spending less time with their loved ones, largely because they are
working more, watching television alone and eating by themselves.
On a typical workday in 2005, workers spent 44 fewer minutes with their
families than two decades earlier: 206 minutes, or 3.4 hours, compared
with 250 minutes, or 4.2 hours, in 1986. Taken over a year, the decline
is equivalent to about five 40-hour workweeks.
"This is the kind of situation that's increasingly creating this kind of
harried culture that we live in with these high levels of time stress we
hear reported," said Clarence Lochhead, executive director of the Vanier
Institute of the Family.
Even when families are together, Mr. Lochhead noted, they are often
distracted by work e-mails and phone calls. But he said spending less
time together on workdays is not necessarily detrimental, since they may
make up in quality what they lack in quantity, or simply catch up on
weekends.
"One of the things that we know about families . . . is that they're
very resilient and they find very creative and innovative ways of
coping," he said.
The Statscan study found that the length of the workday was the main
factor in influencing how much time people spent with their families,
which were defined as a spouse and/or children. In 2005, the average
time spent at work was 536 minutes a day, or nearly nine hours, which is
30 minutes longer than two decades earlier.
The study also examined what Canadians do outside working hours and
found that time spent watching television and on family meals was a key
factor.
Since television is often a shared activity, the study found that the
more time workers spent in front of the TV, the more time they had with
family. In 2005, workers spent about 79 minutes watching TV on an
average workday, making it the third most time-consuming activity, after
working and sleeping.
But despite longer hours at the office, Canadians are spending more time
alone outside of work. In 2005, they were by themselves for an average
of 2.9 hours, or 41 minutes more than two decades ago - an increase that
may be because they're getting home so late.
And while TV unites families, it also fractures them. Two-thirds of
households own more than one television and workers are increasingly
watching TV alone, a fact that accounts for nearly one-quarter of the
overall drop in family time. In 2005, 27 per cent of workers watched TV
by themselves, up from 17 per cent in 1986.
"It explains so much of the decline in time with family," said Martin
Turcotte, a Statscan researcher who wrote the study.
Workers are also eating alone more often, explaining almost 20 per cent
of the reduction in time with loved ones. More than one-quarter of
workers had at least one meal, snack or coffee alone outside work hours
in 2005, compared with 17 per cent in 1986.
As well, the study found that women spent more time with family members
than did men: 209 minutes a day in 2005, down from 248 minutes in 1986.
Men spent 205 minutes in 2005, down from 250. Workers from the Atlantic
provinces spent the most time with their loved ones: an average of 220
minutes a day in 2005, compared with British Columbians, who spent 201
minutes, the shortest time.
The study also found that Canadian workers dedicated less time to social
activities: just 11 minutes on an average day, down from 23 minutes in
1986. Commuting to work took longer, but was not a key influence on
family time.
The study is based on phone interviews with between 2,000 and 4,000
workers conducted during four years of Statscan's General Social Survey.
Time with family was defined as being in the presence of a spouse and/or
children, with the exception of work, personal care and sleep.
*****
The ties that unbind
A decades-long Statscan survey shows that workers are spending less of
their free time with family members and more time alone.
Minutes daily
Time spent with family Time spent with friends Time spent alone
1986 250 44 133
1992 230 36 161
1998 210 24 181
2005 206 19 174
SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA
*****
By the numbers
2005 averages for a typical workday:
206 min The average amount of time workers spent with their families
137 min The amount of time people who watched television alone spent
with their families
33 % The proportion of workers who said they wanted to spend more
time alone
SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA
Illustration
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