New Jersey Lost A Lot Of Free Time Even As TV Time Fell

New Jerseyans have spent the past few years doing something that might surprise anyone who remembers peak pandemic couch life: watching a lot less TV.

According to an analysis of American Time Use Survey data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics by Solitaired, New Jersey residents went from watching 3 hours and 13 minutes of television per day in 2020 to 2 hours and 27 minutes in 2024.

That’s 46 fewer minutes every day. That's a 24% drop.

Here’s the weird part: New Jersey didn’t exactly get all that time back.

• READ MORE: NJ Officially Ranked As Top 3 State To Live

NJ Is Losing Free Time, Too

Daily free time fell from 5 hours and 36 minutes in 2020 to 4 hours and 50 minutes in 2024. That 14% decline puts New Jersey 10th among states for free time lost.

Reading dropped, too, from 20 minutes a day to just 15. On the brighter side, New Jerseyans spent more time relaxing and thinking, increasing from 28 minutes to 34.

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If there’s one activity New Jersey appears especially committed to, it’s working out. Exercise is done at 2.16 times the national rate, making it the state’s most distinctive leisure activity. Not too many big backs in the Garden State, apparently.

• READ MORE: AC Named Best City For Content Creators

So Where Did The Time Go?

Americans lost about 27 minutes of free time per day. Nearly 60% of the free time that remained still went toward screens, while commuting increased by roughly 21%.

For New Jersey, the post-pandemic tradeoff is pretty clear: less TV, less reading and less overall downtime. Is that a good thing? You be the judge. For me personally, less TV is great, but I can't say I read for recreation a whole lot, and I certainly don't feel like I've gained any downtime.

Maybe the couch isn’t the problem anymore. Maybe there just aren’t enough hours in the day.