A Quarter of Americans Spend All Day Inside, Survey Finds (washingtontimes.com) 117
Zorro shares a report from The Washington Times: A quarter of Americans spend almost an entire 24 hours without going outside and downplay the negative health effects of only breathing indoor air, according to a new survey claiming a new "indoor generation." It's unclear how dangerous indoor air is in the modern era -- reports by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency evaluating indoor air quality are from 1987 and 1989, which found that it is two to five times more polluted than outside.
The "Indoor Generation Report" surveyed 16,000 people from 14 countries in Europe and North America about their knowledge and perceptions of indoor vs outdoor air quality and the amount of time spent inside. Of the results for Americans, a quarter said they spend between 21 and 24 hours inside; 20 percent said they spend 19 to 20 hours a day inside and 21 percent say they spend between 15 and 18 hours inside. Thirty-four percent said they spend between zero and 14 hours inside. Great Britain and Canada had similar results to the U.S., with 23 and 26 percent of its respondents saying they spend between 21 and 24 hours inside. The countries with the highest percentage of people who spend the lowest amount of time inside were Italy (57 percent), the Czech Republic (57 percent) and the Netherlands (51 percent). This group said they only spend between zero and 14 hours indoors.
The "Indoor Generation Report" surveyed 16,000 people from 14 countries in Europe and North America about their knowledge and perceptions of indoor vs outdoor air quality and the amount of time spent inside. Of the results for Americans, a quarter said they spend between 21 and 24 hours inside; 20 percent said they spend 19 to 20 hours a day inside and 21 percent say they spend between 15 and 18 hours inside. Thirty-four percent said they spend between zero and 14 hours inside. Great Britain and Canada had similar results to the U.S., with 23 and 26 percent of its respondents saying they spend between 21 and 24 hours inside. The countries with the highest percentage of people who spend the lowest amount of time inside were Italy (57 percent), the Czech Republic (57 percent) and the Netherlands (51 percent). This group said they only spend between zero and 14 hours indoors.
I do (Score:5, Informative)
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It's the place wher you are foreced to use 4g as wi-fi has no coverage LOL
Re: I do (Score:2)
I can somewhat sympathize. While I'm not always on slashdot, I kind of have to stay inside, ever since my kidney transplant last December. Tacromilus makes your skin less resistant to UVA radiation, plus it reduces your immune response to cancer.
I used to do a lot of outdoor stuff, but now I do light workout in the gym (until I heal.) They say I can use sunblock, but it's such a pain in the butt to apply every time. Even though I'm white, my skin doesn't really burn, so I usually never bothered with sunbloc
Can't help but adopt a fake scots accent for this (Score:1)
Fae fuck's seks
'Kin merkins right
They hae nae lekkie kettles
They dinnae hae fuckin eggcups, fae fucks saek
'n' the fuckin frae wirl cannae even manage openin windaez.
Christ on a fuckin bike man.
As opposed to outdoor air? (Score:2)
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Not even on weekends, breaks, etc.?
Re:As opposed to outdoor air? (Score:4, Interesting)
Instead of wildly claiming some fact can't be true or is "silly" because that's just how you feel, take two seconds to google it.
There's actual research on this. Claiming indoor air is worse is not "silly."
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Clearly YMMV. I wonder how many of the quarter inside are in nursing/assisted living homes.
Re: As opposed to outdoor air? (Score:4, Interesting)
Given the age of the study, I wonder how heavily skewed it is from how buildings were constructed in the 1950's-1970's. You know, before all of our modern regulations and standards, and back when a lot more people smoked. I recall "indoors" having a very different feel back then, especially in places where older people lived.
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No. But I have no spleen, so my immune system isn't all it could be....
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outdoor/indoor air (Score:2)
That could be an explanation for the czech being among the most indoor people :
historically a former eastern bloc country, with some country regions having significant industrial development (coal mining, iron smelting, etc.) but not so much pollution control.
thus people will percieve the outdoor air being more polluted and will develop the habit of staying indoor.
(among tons of other different cultural reasons).
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From outer space, obviously.
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With all of the pollutants and allergens?
Look around you. Nearly everything you see except bare metal and unvarnished wood is off-gassing a toxic, cancerous soup that you're breathing in.
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The unvarnished wood, unless it was kiln dried, has been treated with fungicides which may be off-gassing.
As for the bare metal, it really depends on the metal. Glass is probably the safest and even that might be leaded.
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almost there (Score:5, Funny)
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Video tan.
Guess I should get a construction job (Score:1)
Guess I should get a construction job. It looks like I'm disappointing someone, again.
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Guess I should get a construction job. It looks like I'm disappointing someone, again.
I'm sure that the air quality around construction sites will be disappointing to someone...
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PETER - This isn't so bad, huh? Making bucks, getting exercise, working outside.
LAWRENCE - Fuckin' A.
PETER - Fuckin' A...
Indoor air can be cleaner... (Score:1)
If you change the filters and keep up on maintenance, as well as bring in an air purifier or two, you can make the air in your home better then outdoor air. Outdoors has lots of pollen and other things floating around in the air that ranges from mildly irritating to downright toxic. Be like a low pollen day would be easy on an allergenic person while a day in some of China's smog filled cities would be very bad.
Still, getting outside is still nice and a little bit of sun is suppose to be good for us.
But...what about skin cancer and outdoor pollutant (Score:5, Funny)
I've heard there's this thing called teh sun that emits radiation. I don't want skin cancer.
Also, i'm in Los Angeles, where our motto is, "never trust air you can't see."
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I spent probably 23 hours inside. Between work, my car, and home - i'm inside most of the time.
I've heard there's this thing called teh sun that emits radiation. I don't want skin cancer.
I've heard there's this thing called uranium that emits radiation which transforms it into this thing called radon that emits more radiation. In many homes this stuff can build up and you don't want to breathe in too much of it and get lung cancer [latimes.com] either...
Also, i'm in Los Angeles, where our motto is, "never trust air you can't see."
If I'm not mistaken, the Alabama was an Ohio-class submarine, not Los Angeles ;^)
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the Alabama was an Ohio-class submarine
One hundred fifty men went down and seventy-five couples came up?
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| The Alabama was an Ohio class submarine....
Still is: SSBN-731
Vitamin D deficiency rampant throughout USA (Score:4, Informative)
https://www.grassrootshealth.n... [grassrootshealth.net]
And for decades the recommended supplementation level has been too low.
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I've heard there's this thing called teh sun that emits radiation. I don't want skin cancer.
Sunlight makes vitamin D, which helps prevent skin cancer (among many other important things).
Work and sleep (Score:1)
Well if you add together work and sleep that is about 16 hours a day. Throw in a 40 minutes driving (to and from work put together) which while you can have the windows down, is more like inside than outside in most cars. Then add 1.5 hours for eating a cooking and you are only left with 5.5 hours, or 22.9% of your day. How many of those do you spending watching TV or reading a book in a comfy chair? While I probably spend most of those 8 hours and 40 minutes I would be working and commuting during the wee
Major cities have gross air. (Score:4, Informative)
I live in Los Angeles and used to leave my windows open all the time until I noticed the thick layer of oily black "dust" that had covered everything. Now I only keep my bedroom window open with a furnace filter and a fan. There's also standalone air filters in my bedroom and at work. If you live someplace with less gross air, yeah, you should go outside more. Cities are a different story though.
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Right next door to Hawaii.
Indoor air is not full of smoke (Score:4, Informative)
Outdoor air is great, if you mean really, really outdoor air, away from where people are. Outdoor as in the Great Outdoors.
But outdoor air anywhere that people congregate if full of the contrails of filthy fucking ash-holes spewing their drugs into the air that other people have to breath.
Give me clean filtered indoor air over the air around any sidewalk or plaza or roadway or parking lot any day.
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Unless someone over-does their perfume or cologne. In that case, I'll go to the smoking area to get some fresh air.
Re: Indoor air is not full of smoke (Score:2)
Assuming you're not allergic to much of the crap that Nature fills the air with in Spring and Fall. ( Pollens and Molds respectively )
There is nothing wonderful about being congested or suffering from chronic rhinitis from that amazing outdoor air.
To take it a step further, we won't even bring up all the man-made pollutants.
Breathing the outdoor air brings an awful lot of misery for many folks. Thus, I can't blame them for shunning the outdoors.
Would you go outside if it made you fucking miserable ?
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Give me clean filtered indoor air
Very few people have clean filtered indoor air. Even in many city centres over the course of the year you're better off breathing Ozone and NOx and particulate matter to the various VOCs that tend to accumulate inside buildings. Extra bonus points for taking a nice deep breath while cleaning you windows, washing your walls while your partner sprays deodorant and makeup everywhere.
Indoor air is not as clean as you think.
And extra extra bonus points for using an air purifier that generates ozone in the proces
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What? The first thing I did when I moved out was get a HEPA filter for each room, and clean it weekly.
And you are one of the "very few". I didn't say none, but most people don't have HEPA filter and borderline no one has it in their workplace.
Local Climate (Score:5, Insightful)
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Maybe they're all at work. (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean when I go to work, it's dark, when I come out to go home, it's dark. Add another 8 hours of sleep and 2 hours a day commuting, there are 4 free hours for "outside" during a typical week.
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And you'll be lucky if you have a window seat at an office. One workplace had windowless interior labs used for contractors. You never got to see sunlight in Winter. At least not unless you were a senior engineer, manager or director.
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Yeah and? WHen I cycle to the store it's dark, when I walk through the city it's dark. Don't let the lack of light stop you from going outside. Bonus points is that the air is fresher at night.
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10 minutes a day (Score:2)
I counted.
Moonies (Score:2)
It's Washington Times. Infect your brain with this fluff at your peril. Zero hours indoors indeed.
I am just a vault dweller (Score:2)
Vault 12 FTW
Out there (Score:2)
If I head out there, I might meet someone else. I simply can't take that risk
Traffic (Score:2)
I get plenty of outdoor air breathing in all those wonderful car exhaust fumes on the way home from work.
Franklin Took Airbaths, Tesla Squished His Toes (Score:4, Funny)
Most of my outdoor time (Score:2)
Fake news from the Moonies. (Score:1, Informative)
If you weren't aware, (I wasn't) The Washington Times is a newspaper whole owned by the Unification Church.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Times
The weird questioning of "indoor air" and utter lack of science should be a tip off that something isn't right.
STAY HEALTHY (Score:2)
only 25%? (Score:2)
If they really wanted to make a point they should have come and done a count here in Phoenix in the summer.
A lot of this depends on where you live (Score:1)
If you live in Minnesota, you typically will stay inside. I have been there, by October they have ice on their lakes 2 feet thick. Only place I have ever been that got so cold I watched Anti-Freeze freeze and it you can throw a glass of hot in the air and it is ice before it lands. And then during the Summer it is a giant mosquito orgy due to all the lakes. Most don't go outside unless they are hunting or working. They even have houses they pull onto the lakes to fish. They will be indoors most of the time.
The outdoor air in Chicago contains lead (Score:1)
Here is a handy chart of particulate sizes the EPA has detected in the city air:
http://www.ballistics101.com/h... [ballistics101.com]
Does that include time sleeping? (Score:3)
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I am forced to go outside in the sun.... (Score:2)
Back in 2014, my over decade(?) overdue physical test's lab test resulted very low vitamin D. :(
barnyard animals in cages (nt) (Score:1)
Archologies (Score:4, Interesting)
One of my favorite sci-fi futures is where all of humanity lives in archologies and nature is allowed to go rampant outside them. (The idea being that the population remains similar to what it is today, but the people are concentrated geographically.) One of the objections to the idea of archologies is that humanity wouldn't do well cooped up inside all day. It looks like we might be moving that way anyway.
Re:Archologies (Score:4, Informative)
Arcology*. There is no 'h' in the word you're trying to use (arcology: "creating architectural design principles for very densely populated, ecologically low-impact human habitats.") With an 'h' it means "study of the science of governance or the origin of things."
"All day inside" is a designed false conclusion (Score:1)
What they are calling "all day inside" was set up to be the conclusion, as it lumps anyone who spends less than 3 hours outside everyday with those that never leave the house.
If you spend an hour outside every weekday, then spend 7 hours outdoors each day every Saturday and Sunday, you are one of the people who spend all day, everyday indoors according to this "survey".
2 1/2 hour walk every day? You're a shut-in, too.
You could play a outdoor full regulation length soccer game and a regulation basketball gam
VR (Score:2)
I have VR now so I continue to spend all day inside, although I think I'm outside for a couple hours.
Objection! (Score:2)
But I happen to be a bubble boy, you insensitive clod!
Hikikomori (Score:1)
In Japan it's called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]