Second in popularity as a leisure-time activity, according to the Harris poll conducted by Taylor in 2003, was the time-honored tradition of socializing with family or children. When the 17% who named this activity were added to the 7% who cited socializing with friends or neighbors, the total who chose socializing was 24%, the same amount as the number one choice of reading. …
Americans are always finding new ways to spend their free time and money. In good economic times, people generally have more discretionary income to spend on leisure and recreation. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in Consumer Expenditures in 2002 that in 2002 Americans spent an average of $2,079 on entertainment, slightly more than the $1,953 that was spent in 2001. (See Table 2.1.) The study further noted that persons aged thirty-five to forty-four spent the most on entertainment (…
Americans love the outdoors. Millions of Americans spend their free time participating in outdoor activities. A Harris poll conducted by Humphrey Taylor in 2003 found that of forty-six leisure-time activities cited by Americans when they were asked to list their two or three favorites, approximately a third were activities or sports in which participants were directly involved with nature.…
Many Americans like to spend their free time experiencing the fine arts. Some attend opera, ballet, or classical music performances, others go to art museums or galleries, and many curl up with a good book.…
Americans love sports, and most children grow up playing team and individual sports during their physical education programs at school and simply for fun. Many men have played baseball or softball at some time in their lives, and some continue to play in community or neighborhood leagues long after they are finished with school. Today, women are playing sports once played mainly by men, such as so…
Historically, gambling has been a popular form of recreation in North America. George Washington liked to play cards, and Benjamin Franklin printed and sold playing cards. Americans were so fond of card games that when the British Stamp Act of 1765 put a one-shilling tax on playing cards, people became extremely upset. In fact, anger about the Stamp Act and a tax on tea contributed to support for …
Americans love to take vacations. Their destinations may vary from a trip to a national park for camping, fishing, boating, or hiking, to a visit to a theme park such as Disneyland. A vacation can also be a flight to Egypt, a cruise to the Virgin Islands, a romantic three-day weekend in New York, or staying home to read a book. The way Americans vacation and travel and their expectations of vacati…
The expectations of free time have shifted and expanded over time. Eric Miller, in At Our Leisure (New York: EPM Communications, Inc., 1997), depicted recreation and leisure in the United States in the 1950s as an expression of comfort; it rounded out lives and reaffirmed the importance of home and family. During the 1960s it acquired an identity of its own apart from "traditional values." In the 1970s free time became an expression of an individual's identity; it pushed wor…