Family Time Together. Chapter 7. What We Really Do All Day: Insights from the Centre for Time Use Research.

In this chapter, I explore how time together with the partner and the children has changed between 2000 and 2015 in the UK; the period just before and just after the technological revolution involving personal computers and other devices. I show that there has been a decline in family time. More precisely, there was a decline in ‘engaged’ family time (where both partners report being together with their children), although not in overall family time if one includes all combinations of partners, parents and children. This suggests that the technological revolution of personal computers and devices has perhaps reconfigured family time, but not led to an overall decline in the total time spend with our children and our partner. I show that the decline in family time is primarily due to the fact that families spend less time doing domestic chores together, and watch less TV together. I discuss the implications of this decline in family time.

A new perspective from time use research on the effects of social restrictions on COVID-19 behavioral infection risk

We present findings from three waves of a population-representative, UK time-use diary survey conducted both pre- and in real time during full ‘lockdown’, and again following the easing of social restrictions. We used an innovative online diary instrument that has proved both reliable and quick-to-field. Combining diary information on activity, location, and co-presence to estimate infection risks associated with daily behavior, we show clear changes in risk-associated behavior between the pre, full-lockdown and post full-lockdown periods. We document a shift from more to less risky daily behavior patterns (combinations of activity/location/co-presence categories) between the pre-pandemic pattern and full lockdown in May/June 2020, followed by a reversion (although not a complete reversal) of those patterns in August 2020 following the end of the first lockdown. Because, in general, a populations’ time use changes relatively slowly, the behavioral changes revealed may be interpreted as a consequence of the UK COVID-19 lockdown social restrictions and their subsequent relaxation.

A new perspective from time use research on the effects of lockdown on COVID-19 behavioral infection risk

We present findings from the first two waves of an innovative, population-representative, UK time-use diary survey conducted both pre- and mid-lockdown, using an online diary instrument that proved both reliable and quick-to-field. Combining diary information on activity, location, and co-presence to estimate infection risks associated with daily behavior, we show clear changes in such behavior related to infection risk between the pre and mid-lockdown periods: a substantial reduction of time spent in those behaviors with the highest levels of risk, accompanied by an equivalent increase in low-risk behavior. Because, in general, a populations’ time use changes relatively slowly, the behavioral changes revealed may be interpreted directly as a consequence of the UK COVID-19 ‘lockdown’ regulations. Subsequent waves will reveal the behavioral consequences of future changes in regulation

Time use diary design for our times - an overview, presenting a Click-and-Drag Diary Instrument (CaDDI) for online application

The recent global pandemic, involving restrictions on movement, social distancing and the displacement of many work activities to the home, has created an upsurge of interest in changes in the distribution and sequencing of our daily activities. Time use diary data is recognised as the leading source of evidence on this topic. The purpose of this paper is to provide a timely overview of the current state-of-the-art in respect of the designs of time use surveys with a view to online/smartphone deployment. It has three parts: firstly, we briefly summarise the main reasons for using diaries to collect time use information (as opposed to survey questions), and we sketch out the long tradition of time-use research from which these designs emerged. We then outline the main methods currently deployed to collect time use data, with the focus on online and smartphone app instruments. Finally, we present a detailed example of a specific kind of online diary design, the Click-and-Drag Diary Instrument (CaDDI), that may be of particular interest in respect of the sudden demand for new data on time use as it is both user-friendly to complete and capable of timely adaptation and deployment.

Spot phone calls: A new method for measuring time use

Time-use research can provide important insights for different research questions. However, many time-use measures do not capture seasonal differences, qualitative dimensions of time use, and activities that are considered less ‘important’ or ‘desirable’. To address these issues, this article proposes spot phone calls as a new method for measuring time use. The spot phone calls methodology was piloted as part of a research project on time use of adults and children in northern Uganda. In different periods of the year, participants were called on their phones at different times of the day to be asked about their time use. The method was cost and time effective and made it possible to identify and understand seasonal differences in time use. It captured emotional and relational aspects of time use and accounted for activities that were undercounted in other measures, such as ‘doing nothing’ and men’s participation in unpaid care and domestic work. This article calls for the method to be tested with a larger sample.