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Wednesday, August 09, 2006
What Canarians do in their spare time
Ever wondered what Canary Island inhabitants do in their spare time? Well, contrary to what you might believe from the sheer number of fiestas on these islands, apparently, Canarians don't go in for much in the way of "strong emotions" at the weekend. They prefer to watch the tele, listen to music or "practice recreational cooking" - makes it sound like a sport - say ABC.
The consumption of audiovisual media (television, home cinema, internet and radio), listening to music, reading, cooking and looking after pets are the principal activities that occupy the average 12 hours and 34 minutes of free time that a Canary Islander has (someone has 12 hours more than I do!), discounting the hours while we sleep or attending to domestic chores, each weekend.
According to the survey conducted by Facilisimo.com, we dedicate most of this free time to receptive or intellectual activities, which is to say; watching TV (25.88% of the time), surfing the 'net (20.29%), listening to music (18.06%), reading (14.33%) and listening to the radio (11.35%).
In active things, the most popular is that sport of recreational cooking, to which 29.95% of the time is dedicated, followed by looking after pets (19.81%), gardening (17.97%), Do-It-Yourself (17.05%) and decoration (15.20%).
Inequality of the sexes
Men enjoy 12 hours and 46 minutes of spare time, against women who have 12 hours and 39 minutes. Women also spend two hours, fifteen minutes more on domestic chores than the men do. No surprises there then! :)
Nevertheless, cleaning is the singular task which most Canarians spend most time on at the weekend, followed by looking after family, non-recreational cooking and washing and ironing clothes. Those between 25 and 65 prefer to cook, while the 18 to 25 age group spend the bulk of their time on their pets. Those who spend most time on the internet are in the 36 to 45 age bracket.
When asked what they would do with their spare time if they had more of it, most would watch more TV, Home Cinema, surf the internet more, listen to music or read - which is to say that they wouldn't change anything much.
We Brits are supposed to go in for our gardening a bit more, but there is no doubt that we also spend a fair bit of our time as couch potatoes. I just found this data interesting, simply from the point of view that the "average Canarian" does not seem to be much different from the average anybody else really.
El ocio tranquilo de los canarios
