CII NL Short 2

A Day in the Life of Americans - This is How America Runs

America

Apart from the lengthy and detailed scientific method, it is still part of the human experience to try and simplify complicated things in order to help make sense of them. Simplifying the complicated is part of the beauty of data visualizations.

One informative and fun example shows what Americans are doing at any given time throughout a standard 24-hour day. What are typically considered standard working hours from 8am to 5pm are

also the best time for leisure and sleep activities for many people, but for how many people in America and exactly at what time are engaging what activities?

Thanks to Nathan Yau and FlowingData.com, we can find out we are doing collectively as part of American society throughout a typical weekday. Based on the U.S. Census Time Use Survey, Yau created a simulation of 1,000 dots that represent of sample all of America and what we are doing throughout the day by activity and time.