Jansen N.

Dollete

The graph depicts how elderly people in the United States spent their free time between

the 1980s to 2010s. The constant leisure activity of the elderly people is Watching TV. In

the past decades between the 1980s to 2010s, the rate of elders watching TV remains

stable between 60-70%. However, the most inconsistent activity is reading. From the

1980s to 1990s, the percentage of people who spent their time on reading increased to

40% percent from 30%, though became lower by 20% in the 2000s. But it reaches a peak

of 60% in the 2010s.

On the other hand, theater fluctuated from 50% down to 30% but rose to 40% in the

2000s and 45% to 2010s. One evident increasing trend is surfing the internet. As time

pass by, technology evolves and became part of every people’s life. The graph shows

how elderly people became more engaged with the internet from the 1990s to 2010s.

Almost 0% of elderly does surfing, 5% to which is the least of all the given activities.

Continue increasing 5% in the 1990s and 2000s. But in the 2010s, it jumped rapidly to

its highest point at 50%.

The most visible growth of activity is hiking to which is continuously soaring over the

decades. From the year the 1990s up to the 2010s it had risen consistently by 20%

each decade. From 20% in the 1990s until 80% in the 2010s, scoring the highest rate of

elderly people spending their free time hiking.

In conclusion, it is evident that even though technology continues to progress, elderly

people still prefer to engage themselves in moving their bodies rather than just sitting,

watching tv, movies, or surfing. However, it is clearly seen that these activities are still a
huge part of their life for this graph shows how it still relevantly plays a vital role in the

free time of elderly people, simply because these things such as television, movies, and

reading have been available for them ever since then.