THE ESSENTIAL
- A study shows that since the pandemic, Americans spend an average of 51 fewer minutes away from home each day, including a 12-minute drop in daily travel.
- This trend of “hunkering down at home” has been amplified by teleworking and online shopping. Time spent away from home has only modestly recovered after the pandemic, rebounding by just 11 minutes from 2021 to 2023, from 270 minutes to 281.
- Although this reduces commuting and emissions, this “living at home” also poses risks of social isolation, requiring adaptations for more inclusive cities.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans have spent on average nearly an hour less per day outside of their homes. This is the conclusion of a new study published in the Journal of the American Planning Association. This reduction, estimated at 51 minutes per day since 2019, notably includes a reduction of 12 minutes in the time spent on daily travel, such as traveling by car or public transport.
Covid-19: a lasting retreat at home since the epidemic
The work, carried out by urban planning researchers from Clemson University and UCLA and based on data from more than 34,000 American adults, shows that this trend to stay at home has increased over the past five years. Thus, the time spent on 8 of the 12 activities outside the home decreased from 2019 to 2021 (from 334 minutes per day to 271, or from approximately 5.5 hours to 4.5), while that spent on 11 of the 16 activities at home increased.
If teleworking partly explains this decrease, other activities have also seen a decline: shopping trips, artistic and sporting activities, and even religious practices. Even travel has decreased, with 13 minutes less in the car and on public transport – a downward trend that is not solely attributable to Covid-19 restrictions, the researchers say.
Note also that the time spent away from home has only modestly recovered after the pandemic, rebounding by only 11 minutes from 2021 to 2023, going from 270 minutes to 281. “All time spent outdoors, all forms of travel remained significantly lower in 2023 than in 2019”assure the researchers in a communiqué.
Advantages and disadvantages of “living at home”
The pandemic seems to have accelerated a decline that already existed, with a drop of around 1.8 minutes per day for activities outside the home since 2003, accentuated today by the development of communication technologies. Researchers also note an increase in sleep and physical exercise at home, often facilitated by the purchase of sports equipment during confinements.
This “living at home” has advantages, particularly in terms of saving time and reducing fuel emissions. However, side effects, such as social isolation, should not be underestimated. For researchers, this phenomenon of “home withdrawal” must therefore encourage cities to adopt planning policies responding to new mobility and socialization behaviors, in order to create more inclusive urban environments adapted to the needs of their residents.
