Social networks have reversed the dynamics of the social life of the Catalan population. The time that Catalans dedicate to networks is more than two hours per day, in which case they spend twice as much time as a family, an activity to which 13.6% of the population devotes approximately 43 minutes every day. This is the Catalonia Time Use Survey 2024 prepared by the Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya (Idescat). Sending WhatsApp is, according to the study, one of the most time-consuming activities for young people between 10 and 24 years old, with a daily average of two hours.
In general, the survey shows that 17.4% of the Catalan population over 10 years old uses social networks the most and devotes 71 minutes to the media day; and 14.6% of the population spends about 36 minutes on media every day to communicate via instant messaging.
There is a gender gap in time spent on caregiving. Women outstrip men when planning household chores. 60% of women plan family meals on working days, compared to 23.7% of men. 54% organize the basket, compared to 26% of men; and cleanliness occupies 61.6% of women compared to 20.9%.
In the academic monitoring of children, such as participation in meetings with the teacher, their recognition in the centers or monitoring of academic results, the difference is even more acute: 48.8% of women say they follow communications with the school, compared to 11% of men. The gap widens between ages 25 and 44, among which the figure for women rises to 55.9% and for men it falls to 9.8%.
Marta Junqué, director of the Time Use Initiative, warns that 80% of the working population in Catalonia has time management problems, especially women. “Their working day is longer. The idea of men entering the world of care doesn’t solve the problem. If they don’t have more free hours each day, they’re running out of time,” he warns.
The data shows that the difference in time spent on domestic and care work has been reduced compared to the previous edition (2010-2011), but this reduction does not respond to an increase in time spent on men, but rather a decrease in time spent on women.
During the last survey, women spent twice as much time on it as men: two hours and 54 minutes per day, compared to two hours for men. Currently, women spend three hours and 17 minutes each day, while men spend hours, narrowing the difference but maintaining a gap of more than 64%. Concretely, women continue to carry out more than an additional hour of unpaid work per day.
Lejos fits into the model proposed by the Gallic philanthropist and utopian socialist Robert Owen in the 19th century. In this society based on industrial colonies and where the weight of women in the labor market was negligible, Owen’s model of hours – working hours, rest hours and leisure hours – is not valid. However, Junqué warned that society was still governed by this principle, but that the incorporation of women into the world of work broke this triangle.
“In this project, care was not considered, because it was assumed that these women were responsible. That is why, from there, we suggested a new social pact and proposed a law of practices of the time that the PSOE and Sumar were committed to approving,” explains the expert. Even though Catalonia has reduced the gender gap in domestic and family tasks by 46%, there is still much to do.
Social class and educational level are other factors that directly affect time use. In particular, 72% of women with primary or lower education say they are responsible for tasks, while only 22% of men have the same level to accomplish them. In the case of people with higher education, the percentage of women who claim to be the ones who plan is reduced to 53.4%, and the percentage of men increases to 25.4%.
Junqué attributes this phenomenon to the close relationship between time and power. “The more power you have for the organization, the more power you have to achieve this autonomy. Classes with fewer resources cannot achieve this, but they can also save time,” he explains. “If a family can’t take their children to school, pay someone to take them,” he explains.
Part of the solution, according to Junqué, involves reducing the working day to 37 hours on average. But more than a simple reduction, Junqué considers that the route must be compacted. “In the afternoon, 30% of Spaniards work. This is not the case in the rest of Europe. It is neither efficient nor productive. We must eliminate broken days and compact them. That is why there are fewer hours, but more intensive hours,” he concludes.
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