Contrary to stereotypes, accountants are actually the profession with the most get up and go according to research from Australian winemakers Lindemans. Apparently the number-crunchers are most likely to socialise mid-week, play more sport, watch the least TV, have more sex, and spice things up in the kitchen too with the most varied mix to their diet!
On the other hand, according to the Lindemans Monotony Monitor, despite having more disposable income, more leisure, transport and travel options, and more access to information and electronic entertainment than ever before, today’s typical thirty and forty somethings are more rut race than rat race.
Lindemans recruited 100 households from across the UK to help highlight the ‘humdrum hotspots’ by keeping a detailed two-week diary and shed the light on how Britons spend their work and leisure time. A cross section of professions including an accountant, teacher, advertising executive and housewife noted details of their daily travel, work and leisure routines, recording everything from the time they left for the office & what they had for lunch, to what they watched on TV and the number of drinks they downed on a night out.
The records were then analysed by social psychologist Christine Webber, who discovered that the majority of respondents were living not just ‘groundhog days’ – daily routines filled with repetitive behaviour – but ‘groundhog weeks’.
Commenting on the research, Webber explained; “The daily diaries have given us an illustrative ‘snapshot’ of the type of lives many of us could be living, allowing us to drill down into the details of Britons’ Monday to Friday routines.”
Main findings
– Lights out early: 83% were tucked up by 11.30pm every night without fail
– Takeaway Triteness: of the 56% who ate takeaways at least once a week, 80% ordered the same meal every time
Social Life Lethargy: just 39% got together with friends during the two week period
– Physically Unchallenged: while only 28% visited the gym at any time
– Square eyes: respondents watched TV at least five nights a fortnight or more on average, with 41% watching 9 nights out of the ten monitored
– 24hr flat liners: 61% were regularly unable to name a single ‘highlight’ of their day
In contrast to accountants, ‘creative’ types were the group most likely to spend an evening crashed out in front of the TV. Although accountants on average clocked up less than one hour a fortnight in front of the box, ‘media types’ tended to be glued to the TV even if there was nothing on, watching TV for an average of 16 hours over the two week study. One particular respondent, a hairdresser from Birmingham, watched the most, clocking up 36 hours over ten consecutive evenings.
When asked to give their days a satisfaction rating, housewives scored highly with a typical day scoring an average of seven out of ten. In contrast advertising execs gave their days an average score of just 4 out of ten.
Maybe its not surprising then, that it was an accountant from the South East who had the most sex of the whole group! While the radio producer watched TV in bed eight out of ten nights, and the advertising executive went straight to sleep most nights. Of the whole sample, only 39% admitted to having sex at all in the two weeks, and of those people, the average was three times.
The British office remains a slave to tea-break culture with nearly two thirds (61%) of respondents having two or more cups of tea a day, and a third of office workers having their own personal mug. Tea breaks and a gossip with colleagues were the two most frequently mentioned ‘highlights’ of the working morning.
Over half (56%) of respondents admitted to eating lunch in the same place every day, with 73% of office workers eating their lunch at their desk. An unadventurous 89% plumped for a ‘sandwich’ every day for the two week period.
Almost half of all the families shopped on the same day each week. Analysis of supermarket receipts showed that 78% of a typical family shop is consistent week in week out. Only half of respondents treated themselves to something different in their weekly shop. The other 50% preferring to stick rigidly to their usual shopping list.
Not surprisingly household tasks, repetitive by nature, are regarded as the most tedious element of our day to day lives. The traditional division of the chores still applies with women consistently listing the indoor work such as cleaning the bathroom and washing the kids clothes, while men list the outdoor tasks such as mowing the lawn and washing the car.
Given work and home commitments on weekdays, you might think the weekend would be a time for excitement, but far from kicking loose and letting their hair down, only 11% said they most looked forward to socialising at the weekends. Of the 25% who went to the pub, 75% opted for the same drink every round.
A mere 22% most looked forward to playing sport at the weekend, but 28% looked forward to a lie in. The most popular choice of weekend activity was spending time with the family (44%).
