- The Interwar generation (75 years and over) spent the most time in a day watching TV and video of those who participated in the activity (3 hours 43 minutes).
- Generation Z (15 to 24 years) had the highest proportion (22%) who participated in digital games in a day, which was double the next highest, Millennials (25 to 39 years) (11%).
- Nearly half of the Interwar generation spent time in their day reading (47%).
How Australian generations spent their time on recreation and leisure
Explores activities across Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomers, and Interwar generation
Released
16/04/2024
Key Statistics
Introduction
The Time Use Survey (TUS) was collected in 2020-21. Detailed data from this survey was published by the ABS in October 2022: How Australians Use Their Time, 2020-21. TUS is an important source of information about how Australians use their time, including how they balance family and caring activities with social and economic participation. TUS provides information on gender differences in time spent on paid and unpaid work, including unpaid caring, domestic activities, and volunteering. The survey also provides insights into other aspects of the wellbeing of Australians, including participation in social activities and experiences of time stress.
The following article compares how different generations of Australians aged 15 years or over spent their time on various recreation and leisure activities. Each generation tends to have different hobbies, interests, and lifestyles. This article focuses on watching TV and video, digital games, general internet and device use, reading, and exercise, sport and outdoor activity.
People in the survey completed a diary of their activities. The results from the survey show how people spent their time in a day, on average across a week.
COVID-19 context
TUS 2020-2021 was collected between November 2020 and July 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, actions were in place to help reduce the spread of the pandemic including border control measures for some states and territories, stay at home orders, schooling and learning from home, shutting down non-essential services, limits on gatherings and social distancing rules.
These restrictions likely affected free time and leisure activities in different ways. Changes in work-from-home options and reduced travel time may have changed the amount of free time available. The pandemic could have impacted exercise, sport and outdoor activity, and home-based activities like reading, digital games, and internet use. These impacts would have varied depending on each person’s circumstances.
Defining generational cohorts
The age range for each generation described below is used only for the purposes of this article and relates to the age of the survey population, which was people aged 15 years and over. Generations are described using similar age ranges to those used in the Age and sex section of 2021 Census article: Snapshot of Australia. The weighted population distribution for TUS is similar to the population distribution for the 2021 Census of Population and Housing (Census).
| Generation Z | Millennials (Gen Y) | Generation X | Baby Boomers | Interwar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Description | The youngest generation born from just before the turn of the millennium. | Generation where the oldest in this group became adults around the turn of the millennium. | Generation born after Baby Boomers during a period with a drop in birth rates. | Generation born after the second World War during a period with a surge in birth rates. | Generation born during or before the second World War. This generation is also known as the Silent Generation. |
| Age in 2021 | 15-24 years(a) | 25-39 years | 40-54 years | 55-74 years | 75 years and older |
| Year of Birth | 1996-2005 | 1981-1995 | 1966-1980 | 1946-1965 | 1945 or earlier |
- Generation Z was recorded as 10-24 years old in the 2021 Census article, whereas TUS only collected information from those aged 15 years and over. Hence, data presented in this article do not represent the whole Generation Z population.
Proportion of total population aged 15 years and over
Source: Table 1.7
How to read the charts below
The lines at the top of the column charts below represent ‘confidence intervals’. These show the range that we are 95% confident the estimate for that sub-population falls within, i.e. 95 times out of 100 we would be confident that the estimate lies in the range indicated by the line.
When comparing across bars, a gap between the ends of the lines of any two bars indicates a ‘statistically significant’ difference, which means we can assume there is a difference between the estimates. If there is overlap between the lines of any two bars, it cannot be assumed that the difference between those two estimates, however large, is significant.
Care should be taken when comparing small differences between the confidence intervals of different bars.
Recreation and leisure activities
In TUS, Recreation and leisure is a category of activities contained within the larger category of Free time.
Recreation and leisure includes watching television, sport and exercise, reading, and a variety of other recreation and leisure activities. Activities were coded to recreation and leisure if they matched the activity definition.
Looking at the total population aged 15 years and over, people spent on average 17% of any given day doing recreation and leisure activities:
- Interwar generation (25% of any given day)
- Baby Boomers (20%)
- Generation Z (19%)
- Generation X (14%)
- Millennials (13%).
Persons aged 15 years and over, total population, all activities
Participation in recreation and leisure activities was high across all generations:
- Interwar generation (99%)
- Baby Boomers (97%)
- Generation Z (93%)
- Generation X (91%)
- Millennials (90%).
Generation X was the only generation to have a statistically significant difference in participation between males (88%) and females (94%).
There were generational differences in the average time spent in a day by those who participated in recreation and leisure activities:
- Millennials spent the least amount of time (3 hours and 27 minutes)
- Interwar generation spent the most time (6 hours and 9 minutes)
- in every generation, males spent at least 30 minutes more time than females
- Generation Z had the largest difference between males and females
- Generation Z males spent an hour and half more than females (5 hours and 30 minutes compared to 3 hours and 58 minutes respectively)
- Millennial females spent the least amount of time (3 hours and 5 minutes)
- Interwar males spent the most time (6 hours and 27 minutes).
Persons aged 15 years and over
Average time spent per day, of persons who participated
Source: Table 1.3 and Table 1.4
Watching TV and video
Includes:
- Watching TV, movies, streaming services and online video.
Excludes:
- Watching TV with children
- Video chats.
The proportion of people who participated in watching TV and video was higher in older generations compared to younger generations and it increased with age:
- Interwar generation (96%)
- Baby boomers (86%)
- Generation X (73%)
- Millennials (68%)
- Generation Z (63%).
There was no significant difference between the proportion of males and females for each generation who watched TV and video.
Persons aged 15 years and over
Proportion who participated
Source: Table 1.1 and Table 1.2
Of those who watched TV and video in a day:
- the Interwar (3 hours and 43 minutes) and Baby Boomer (3 hours and 27 minutes) generations spent significantly more time on average than other generations
- Millennials spent the least time (2 hours and 18 minutes)
- Millennial females spent the least amount of time of all sexes and generations (2 hours and 5 minutes)
- on average for every generation, males spent at least 20 minutes more time per day than females
- Interwar and Baby Boomer males spent the highest number of hours of all generations, watching close to 4 hours per day (3 hours 52 minutes and 3 hours 48 minutes respectively).
Persons aged 15 years and over
Average time spent per day, of persons who participated
Source: Table 1.3 and Table 1.4
Digital games
Includes:
- Video games, gaming. Games on PlayStation, Xbox, or PC
- Games played on a PC, phone, or any electronic device.
Excludes:
- Games with no further information are assumed non-digital.
Generation Z and Millennial participation in digital games was higher than other generations:
- Generation Z had the highest proportion who participated (22%)
- Generation Z males had the highest proportion (37%) who participated, which was close to five times the proportion of Generation Z females (8%)
- the proportion of participation for Millennial males was 17%, the second highest of all sexes and generations
- female participation was low for all generations (8% or lower).
Persons aged 15 years and over
Proportion who participated
Source: Table 1.1 and Table 1.2
Generation Z and Millennials spent more time, on average, participating in playing digital games in a day than other generation:
- Generation Z spent the most time (3 hours and 17 minutes)
- Millennials spent the next highest time (2 hours and 19 minutes)
- other generations spent around half as much time as Millennials
- Generation Z males played for longer per day (3 hours and 23 minutes) than any other generation or sex
- while the proportion of Millennial males (17%) was three times more than Millennial females (6%), they each spent a similar amount of time with males playing for 2 hours 20 minutes and females for 2 hours 17 minutes
- Generation X males spent 1 hour 56 minutes playing, more than twice as long as Generation X females (47 minutes).
Persons aged 15 years and over
Average time spent per day, of persons who participated
Source: Table 1.3 and Table 1.4
General internet and device use
Includes:
- Social media, checking emails, checking phone, browse internet
- Reading news online
- Time spent on phone, computer, device where activity not specified.
Excludes:
- 'Watching YouTube'
- Playing a digital game.
With regard to participation in general internet and device use:
- Generation Z had a significantly higher proportion of participation than the Interwar generation (41% compared to 28%)
- there was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of those who participated across generations on any given day
- Generation Z females had the highest participation overall (52%).
Persons aged 15 years and over
Proportion who participated
Source: Table 1.1 and Table 1.2
Of those who participated in general internet and device use on any given day:
- Generation Z spent the most time (1 hour and 18 minutes)
- Generation Z females spent over 22 minutes more time per day than females of every other generation (1 hour 15 minutes compared to 52 minutes or less)
- Generation X and Baby Boomer males spent significantly more time (1 hour 17 minutes and 1 hour 12 minutes respectively) than females from the same generation (48 minutes and 50 minutes respectively).
Persons aged 15 years and over
Average time spent per day, of persons who participated
Source: Table 1.3 and Table 1.4
Reading
Includes:
- Reading newspapers, books, magazines, e-books.
Excludes:
- Responses of 'checking news, emails or social media'
- Reading news online
- Reading messages or texts
- Reading paperwork, mail, household administration
- Reading for study
- Participating in book club.
Around half of the Interwar generation participated in reading on any given day:
- the Interwar generation had the highest proportion, with close to one in two people participating (47%)
- the next highest participation was by Baby Boomers (30%)
- nearly one in four Generation X females participated (23%) compared to around one in eight Generation X males (12%).
Persons aged 15 years and over
Proportion who participated
Source: Table 1.1 and Table 1.2
Of those who participated in reading on any given day, on average:
- Generation Z spent the most time (2 hours and 6 minutes)
- time spent was similar across all other generations, ranging from 1 hour and 17 minutes for Generation X to 1 hour and 35 minutes for Interwar generation
- despite having one of the lowest proportions who participated (10%), Generation Z males had the highest time spent (2 hours and 46 minutes).
Persons aged 15 years and over
Average time spent per day, of persons who participated
Source: Table 1.3 and Table 1.4
Exercise, sport and outdoor activity
Includes:
- Walking for exercise or pleasure, running, gym, swimming, sports and water sports
- Stretching when not for medical reasons
- Fishing, yoga, golf
- Bike rides.
Excludes:
- Commutes including walking or cycling
- Exercises, stretches or physiotherapy for a medical reason
- Walking pets.
- The proportion who participated in exercise, sport and outdoor activity for a given day was similar across all generations and sexes.
Persons aged 15 years and over
Proportion who participated
Source: Table 1.1 and Table 1.2
Of those who participated in exercise, sport and outdoor activities on any given day, on average:
- Generation Z spent the most time (1 hour and 42 minutes)
- other generations spent similar times (ranging from 1 hour and 31 minutes for Generation X compared to 1 hour and 23 minutes for Baby Boomers)
- Millennial, Generation X and Baby Boomer males averaged significantly more time than females from the same generation
- the largest difference in time spent for a generation by sex was for Generation X, with males spending 43 minutes more than females (1 hour 54 minutes and 1 hour 11 minutes respectively).
Persons aged 15 years and over
Average time spent per day, of persons who participated
Source: Table 1.3 and Table 1.4
Data downloads
Data Table
Data files