Everyday conversations now center on the pure speculation we all face of when life “will return to normal.” Well, folks, new Whirlpool Corporation research indicates that the pandemic has forever changed the world already, including our life at home.
With 2020 drawing to a close, the “return to normal” speculation is rampant. To help their innovators, engineers, marketers and design teams better understand how the pandemic will impact life at home in the long-term, Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool has commissioned new research to understand how lives have changed in 2020.
The new report has found that more than half of U.S. adults (53-percent) surveyed are spending on average an extra 7.4 hours at home each day, equating to more than two extra days at home per week. That has created positive shifts in dynamics in households–which experts predict could remain for the long-term.
The research, conducted with YouGov among adults in the U.S., found:
A shift in household responsibilities
- 14-percent of those surveyed are cooking together more as a household since the pandemic began, allowing the inference that nearly 36 million people in the U.S. are cooking together more.
- For 12-percent, housework has also become more of a joint effort than ever before, meaning that more than 15 million households in the U.S. are sharing more chores–with laundry (66-percent) and cooking (65-percent) the most popular shared chores among those sharing the effort.
More quality time spent together as a household
- Nearly a quarter (24-percent) say they feel closer to friends and family.
- Unsurprisingly, the most popular reason for that is people spending more time as a household (57-percent). But also one in five (22-percent) say it’s because they have been exercising or learning new skills together.
Finding time for self-improvement
- More people have become hobbyists. 16-percent (which would represent nearly 41 million people in the U.S.) have taken up at least one new hobby or skill since the start of the pandemic.
- From the given list, cooking (29-percent), gardening (23-percent), drawing/painting (23-percent) and embarking on a new course of learning (21-percent) are the most popular hobbies picked up by those who have started a new one.
- 17-percent also say they’ve become more creative in the kitchen.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that nearly a third (32-percent) say they’ve found a new appreciation for their homes this year, and 27-percent say spending more time at home has produced unexpected positives.
It’s not likely to change either. Although half of people (54-percent) hope life returns to normal heading into 2021, over a quarter (28-percent) say they want to keep up the positive new changes they’ve made at home long-term.
Meik Wiking, world-leading happiness expert, New York Times bestselling author and CEO of The Happiness Research Institute, says, “When the world feels chaotic, we often look for shelter and comfort in our homes as somewhere we can control. That’s never been more true than over the last few months,” and adds, “As this study shows, the effort we’ve made to make our homes a sanctuary from the outside world has led to us making changes to our home lives and household dynamics. From transforming what our homes look like, to reviewing how we share the housework, to thinking about how we can continue to grow as individuals—even if it’s within our four walls. Looking ahead to 2021, we might not be able to keep up all the good hobbies we’ve picked up, but I think the understanding that happiness is homemade is here to stay.”
The Improving Life At Home online hub
To help people keep those habits up, Whirlpool Corporation is launching a robust new “Improving Life At Home” online hub, which is filled with expert advice from across its many brands, including tips from happiness expert Wiking. Find the very colorful and useful hub here: http://www.improvinglifeathome.com/
Eleanor Reece, Senior Director of Global Campaigns at Whirlpool, says, “At Whirlpool Corporation, we are in constant pursuit of improving life in the home,” and adds, “That’s why we commissioned this new study to understand how lives have changed in the last year. Amidst the hardships, challenges and uncertainty that have come in 2020, it’s been heartening to see some silver linings as new dynamics and habits emerge in homes everywhere. We want to play our part in helping people keep those up, which is why we’ve launched this online hub, which brings together the best of our company’s advice-led content to help people make the most of life at home.”
Meik Wiking is the CEO of The Happiness Research Institute and is a New York Times and The Times Bestselling author. His books, which have sold 2 million copies worldwide, include The Little Book of Hygge, The Little Book of Lykke, and The Art of Making Memories.
Besides his work at the Happiness Research Institute, he is Research Associate for Denmark at the World Database of Happiness, member of the policy advisory group for the Global Happiness Policy Report, Board Member at The Health and Happiness Research Foundation, and creator of the Happiness Museum in Copenhagen.
Meik has been called The Indiana Jones of Smiles and probably the World´s happiest man by The Times.
