How Much Time Do Families Spend In a Car?

A trip to the grocery store may seem like a small part of everyday life. But repeated trips can add up to a significant amount of time.

One article estimates that an average grocery trip takes about 63 minutes, including 10 minutes of travel each way and 43 minutes in the store. At 1.6 trips per week, that adds up to about 87 hours a year.

The important part for our research is the travel time. Families may spend only 10 minutes driving to the store, but they make similar trips again and again. The car becomes part of these repeated routines.

This changes the way we should think about the time families spend in a car. A short drive may not seem important by itself. But when the same type of trip happens every week, those minutes add up.

“How many dates could you have gone on with that time? How much would your relationships have been improved? How about time with the kids?”

The value of time in the car is not only about getting somewhere faster. Repeated everyday trips create small amounts of shared time that can add up. We can redesign these small amounts of shared time to rebuild family connection.

References

Brian Nelson-Palmer, Get Groceries Delivered. You Running Errands? Or Are Errands Running You?, Productivity Gladiator.

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