“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days…”
– Annie Dillard, American author,”The Writing Life”
Most of us are aware of where our time goes – whether that time is considered wasted or not. In any case, it’s interesting to see the variety of things that people around the globe do to waste their time.
Online Life | Time Wasted
Decades ago, the internet came into our lives and occupied people’s minds all over the world. It is unbelievable how much time the average person spends on the internet nowadays. According to statistics, the amount of time spent varies by country. For example, Canadians are ranked first in the amount of time spent using the internet. The average Canadian person spends around 40 hours per month on the web, and this is twice the world average. The United States took second place. The average American spends around 35 hours per month on the internet. Although China has approximately one billion internet users, the largest number of any country, only one in three people there actually use the internet.
The Hungriest Nation | Time Wasted
Some people are always on the go – sandwich in one hand and coffee in the other – running to the office, doing errands, etc. Other people spend their lunches and dinners sitting at a big table surrounded by family or friends. The time we spend consuming food depends not just on our attitude, but also on our nationality. French people spend more time eating than anyone else. They eat during a period of over two hours daily. New Zealand and Japan share second place. The average person from New Zealand and Japan spends about two hours eating every day. People from Belgium and Italy spend a moderate one hour and 50 minutes consuming food daily. On the far end of the spectrum, the Finnish, Norwegian and British people spend the least time with food – an average of 20 minutes daily.
Sweet Dreams | Time Wasted
How much time people need for sleep depends on many factors, such as age, health, mental activity and so on. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a survey showing the amount of time people from different countries spend sleeping. Just as with food, first place was taken by France. On average, a French person sleeps nine hours every night. They are followed by Americans and Spaniards, who sleep around eight and a half hours per day. Korea and Japan took the last places on the list. They each only sleep around seven hours and 50 minutes per day.
11 Days in Traffic
The longest traffic jam ever happened in China on the National Expressway 110 between Beijing and Inner Mongolia. In a 100 km (60 mile) long traffic jam, thousands of motorists were stuck for 11 days. Fortunately, an 11-day traffic jam does not happen every day. In general, Moscow is the number one city globally with the worst traffic congestion. Statistics show that the average Moscow driver spent more than 127 hours in traffic jams in 2012 alone. That is not counting the normal time it would take to get from one point to another. Unfortunately, Moscow is not alone: Sao Paulo, Beijing, Los Angeles, and Istanbul are also world record-breakers.
Who works the most?
Some people view work as time wasted, rather than the other way around. When thinking about the most hard-working nation in the world, Japan or China will inevitably come to mind. However, according to the latest study from the OECD, the first place goes to Mexico. Mexicans spend around 9.9 hours doing paid and unpaid work daily. The Japanese come in second place, working around nine hours per day. The average Chinese person works 8.4 hours daily, both paid and unpaid. Americans spend 8.3 hours daily. Australians spend 8 hours working, and in the United Kingdom they average about 7.8 hours. According to research of 29 economies, Belgium is the country that works the least, spending around 7.1 hours doing paid and unpaid work.
Sources:
Euobserver, wiseGeek, Road Crazed, CNN
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