According to a recent a recent Nielsen global survey, our spare time is precious; how we unwind says a lot about what we value. With a wide array of pastimes available, respondents were asked to select their top three spare-time activities. While certain activities skew younger than older and vice versa, technology-driven younger people still read!
Depending on our age, says the report, our approach to something as simple as getting up-to-date news or eating out can be drastically different, but today’s consumers are bucking yesterday’s preconceived generational notions. Many older people are embracing a more technology-driven world, and sizeable numbers of younger people are turning to more traditional values, says the report.
TV may have universal appeal as a favorite spare-time activity among all generations, but the study found that, in Generation Z, more respondents selected reading as a favorite activity than watching TV. In fact, a higher percentage enjoys reading than playing video and online games or reviewing social media.
While TV has universal appeal as a favorite spare-time activity among all generations, it turns out that more respondents in Generation Z (ages 15-20) selected reading (27%) as a favorite activity than tuning into their favorite TV programs (23%). In fact, more Gen Z respondents picked reading than reviewing social media (17%) or playing video and online games (17% and 16%, respectively).
Other activities, however, have younger or older age skews. When ranked by percentage that picked the activity, listening to music landed as a top three pick for Generation Z (37%) and Millennials (27%), while it fell further down the list for older respondents, says the report.
Conversely, our desire to explore steadily increases as we age, as traveling was selected by 12% of Generation Z, 18% of Millennials, 22% of Generation X, 22% of Baby Boomers and 25% of Silent Generation respondents. Gardening (22%) was a unique favorite among Silent Generation respondents, putting it in their top-five list of spare-time activities.
Other findings from the Nielsen Global Generational Lifestyles Report include:
Top Spare-Time Activities By Generation | |
Generation Z (15-20) | % of Respondents |
Listen to Music: | 37% |
Read: | 27% |
Watch TV: | 23% |
Connect with Friends/Family: | 19% |
Exercise: | 18% |
Millennials (21-34) |
|
Watch TV: | 31% |
Connect with Friends/Family: | 28% |
Listen to Music: | 27% |
Read: | 20% |
Travel: | 18% |
Generation X (35-49) |
|
Watch TV: | 38% |
Connect with Friends/Family: | 30% |
Read: | 24% |
Travel: | 22% |
Listen to Music: | 21% |
Boomers (50-64) |
|
Watch TV: | 42% |
Read: | 29% |
Connect with Friends/Family: | 28% |
Travel: | 22% |
Listen to Music: | 19% |
Silent Generation (65+) |
|
Read: | 42% |
Watch TV: | 40% |
Connect with Friends/Family: | 29% |
Travel: | 25% |
Garden: | 22% |
Source: Nielsen Generational Lifestyle Survey, Q1 2015 |
The Nielsen Global Generational Lifestyles Survey polled 30,000 online respondents in 60 countries to better understand how global consumer sentiment differs across life stage. A probability sample of equivalent size would have a margin of error of ±0.6% at the global level.
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