The line graph illustrates several activities (reading, hiking, theatre, watching TV, and surfing the internet) that elderly people did in their leisure time in the United States from 1980 until the present day in 2010.
Overall, back in the 1980s, the most popular activity for elderly people was watching TV, but only up until the early 2000s. Nowadays, the most popular activity is hiking. On the contrary, reading was the least favorite for over two decades.
According to the chart, from 1980 until the early 2000s, the vast majority of elderly people (65% on average) preferred to watch TV in their free time. However, from around 2005 until now, about 70% to 80% of elders chose to hike over watching television, and hiking has become the most popular activity today. Surfing the internet was not as popular as it is today. In 1980, only a minority, less than 10%, were using the internet, after which it rose gradually by 5% in each decade before spiking to 50% in 2010.
On the other hand, there were big fluctuations in reading and theatre. Back in the 80s, half of the elderly people in the US went to see theatre, however after a decade, it dropped to 30%, then increased again to approximately 45% in 2000. A reversed pattern was seen in reading; at first, it was 30%, but after some time, it saw a dramatic fall in the 2000s to a low of 20%. Today, 60% of elderly people read.