Picture a scenario where the entire world transforms into a single individual, and this person, like everyone else, is limited to just 24 hours each day. Now, think about this: there’s a fascinating study that delves into the intricate details of how this global person would choose to allocate their precious time. This gives us an insight into what a usual day on Earth resembles for each and every one of us.

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Insights

• Researchers studied how people use their time in over 130 countries, creating a picture of a day in the life of humanity.
• The study divided our time into four categories: sleep and rest, direct human activities, organizational tasks, and external activities.
• Sleep takes up about 9 hours of our day, making it the biggest chunk of time.
• Direct human activities include things like hanging out with friends, watching TV, and learning. On average, we spend 9.4 hours on these activities.
• Organizational tasks, like grocery shopping and paying bills, use up 2.1 hours of our day.
• External activities, like farming and building, take about 3.4 hours each day.
• Some activities, like eating and grooming, remain constant no matter the country’s wealth.

Illustrations

• Imagine you have 24 hours to spend every day. You’d probably spend a big part of that time sleeping, right? Well, people all around the world do the same thing. On average, we spend about 9 hours in dreamland.
• Now, let’s talk about the fun stuff. The time you spend with friends, playing games, or learning new things. That’s what researchers call “direct human activities.” It takes up about 9.4 hours each day. That’s almost as much time as you spend sleeping!
• But there are things we all have to do, like buying groceries or paying bills. These tasks are part of “organizational outcomes,” and they use up 2.1 hours each day. That’s like spending a small part of your day running errands.
• Now, think about all the things happening outside of you. People are farming, building, and taking care of pets and gardens. These are called “external outcomes.” They take up 3.4 hours of our day. In some countries, farming takes up a lot of time, but in others, it’s done much faster thanks to machines.

Wrap-Up

No matter where you live or how much money you have, we all have the same 24 hours each day. How we use that time can be different, but some things are the same for everyone.

We all need to sleep, spend time with friends and family, do some chores, and take care of the world around us. So, next time you wonder how people spend their day, remember that we all have a common 24-hour clock ticking away.

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