> And the 1960s are the proper point. But aside from that, do the figures
> take into account hours of sleep. I think there's evidence that most of
> us actually need well over 8 hours. Whatever that figure is, if an extra
> hour's leisure comes from staying up too late, it shouldn't count as
> leisure.
I've spent the last six years getting up whenever I wanted. The only time I use the alarm clock is if I have to attend an early morning meeting, travel, go to a doctor appointment, or take a car in for repairs.
I generally go to bed around 2 am and get up between 9-10 am. I'm a sound sleeper and generally fall asleep pretty fast, so I'm averaging 7.5 hours a sleep over a several year period.
Somebody asked if people were watching TV solely or doing things with the TV on. I suspect that many people do stuff while the TV is on. This is indicated by the recent drop in TV ratings, which is tied to computer usage. While one can watch (or listen to) TV while cooking or doing the dishes, it's harder to surf the Internet, chat, or play video games and pay attention to TV at the same time.
Chuck