# ATUS socializing series, 2014–2025: field definitions

Kluro Research support file for [/research/time-spent-socializing-atus/](/research/time-spent-socializing-atus/). It documents `wave3-atus-socializing-2014-2025.csv`.

## Purpose

Lets readers check and chart the series used in the article: minutes per day split into the share of people who did the activity and the minutes among those who did.

## Source

- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), American Time Use Survey annual news releases, **Table 1** of each release (the `release_url` column names the page). Data years 2014–2019 and 2021–2025; releases dated 24 June 2015 to 25 June 2026.
- Response rates: ATUS User's Guide (September 2026), **Table 3.3**.
- Interview counts: the "approximately N individuals were interviewed" sentence in each release's Technical Note.
- US government work, public domain. Downloaded 30 September 2026 (UTC).

## Population and units

- Civilian noninstitutional population age 15 and over, United States.
- Averages per day over all days of the week (the BLS "average day"). Primary activities only.
- Hours are decimal hours as BLS publishes them. Minutes are derived: hours × 60, one decimal place.

## Fields

| Field | Meaning | Published or derived |
|---|---|---|
| data_year | Year the diaries describe | Published |
| release_date | BLS release date (ISO 8601) | Published |
| release_url | Page holding Table 1 for that year | Published |
| table_id | BLS table used | Published |
| category | BLS category name: "Socializing and communicating" or "Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail" | Published |
| avg_hours_per_day_population | Average hours per day, everyone | Published |
| pct_engaged_avg_day | Percent who did the activity on an average day | Published |
| avg_hours_per_day_participants | Average hours per day among people who did it | Published |
| minutes_population | avg_hours_per_day_population × 60 | Derived |
| minutes_participants | avg_hours_per_day_participants × 60 | Derived |
| implied_minutes_participants | minutes_population ÷ (pct_engaged_avg_day ÷ 100); a rounding cross-check only, within 1.7 minutes of the published value in every row | Derived |
| approx_interviews | Approximate number of people interviewed, as the Technical Note states it | Published |
| response_rate_pre_processing_pct | AAPOR RR2 response rate before final processing; final rates run 1–3 points lower | Published |
| comparability_note | Collection issues affecting that year | Text |

## Null convention

An empty cell means the value is not used or not published in this file. The 2020 rows are present with empty time-use values by design: BLS says 2020 data are not representative of the full year and has no data about 18 March to 9 May 2020 (User's Guide §9.2.1). The 2020 response rate is kept for context.

## Limits

- Descriptive only. Standard errors were not retrieved, so no difference in the file has been tested for significance.
- Activity codes were identical from 2013 through 2025 (BLS, "Changes between ATUS Single-Year Files", §6).
- 2025 has no diaries for 30 September to 11 November (federal shutdown); BLS says the effect cannot be quantified.
- Do not add the two categories together: they are separate primary activities, and the tables do not say who was on the other end.