The line graph illustrates the fluctuations across five free time activities (reading, hiking, theatre, watching TV, and surfing the internet) among the elderly people in the United States between 1980s and 2010s.
Overall, watching TV was initially the most preferred activity among these people, while surfing the internet showed the smallest share. However, the habit had been shifted, in which the majority of them eventually chose hiking, whereas theatre registered the least proportion.
In the 1980s, 60% of senior people in the US preferred to watch TV, followed by theatre and reading, which accounted at lower proportions, with 50% and 30%, respectively. The figure for watching TV increased gradually, reaching 70% by 2000s before falling slightly to 65% by the final years. Theatre, on the other hand, dropped considerably to 30% during the first decade, but it then recovered, increasing to 45% in the 2010s. In contrast, reading saw a notable rise to 40% in the next 10 years before hitting a low of 20% in the 2000s. However, it surged to triple by 2010s.
Conversely, hiking, which began at 20% in the 1980s, climbed sharply, peaking at 80% by the final years, making it the most common activity among these seniors. Likewise, surfing the internet, which was initially the least popular activity (5%), rose steadily, tripling (15%) in the next two decades, before surging to 50% by 2010s.