Video content has also become an integral part of the British dinnertime
Dining with the family around the dinner table, with everyone letting each other know how their day has been and otherwise having healthy conversation, has long been held as the paragon of domestic evening meal etiquette.
However, new YouGov data shows that many households in Britain fall far from this ideal – if it was indeed ever commonplace in the first place.
The results of our poll show that many Britons don’t dine together, don’t dine at the table, and most are typically watching the TV or some other video content when having their dinner.
How many Britons eat with other members of their household?
Eight in ten Britons (79%) say they live with other people in their home. Of these co-habiting Britons, one in five (21%) say they eat either in a different room or at a different time to those they live with.
The youngest Britons, those aged 18-24, are the most likely to say they apart from other members of their household, with 38% of those who live with others saying so, compared to 15-22% among other age groups. This is largely unsurprising, as young adults are less likely to live with romantic partners or children and more likely to live with friends, roommates, or worse; their parents, who presumably many are keen to have some privacy from.
Britons are as likely to eat their dinner on the sofa as they are the dining table
Hit 90s-00s sitcom the Royle Family depicted a British family who spent much of their time, including dinner time, at the sofa in front of the telly.
The results of the survey show that for many this will be true to life, with 42% of the public saying they have dinner on the sofa or an armchair. Our wider international study on this social trend shows that Britons are by far the most likely to dine on the living room furniture.
Indeed, fewer than half of Britons (45%) say they eat their dinner at a dining table, which is likewise the lowest for any country surveyed. A further 5% say they eat on their bed, and 4% at a desk.
Even among Britons who eat together with their household, this is still commonly taking place on the living room furniture: 39% of Brits who live with others with whom they typically eat say they do so on sofas and armchairs, including a quarter with children in the household (27%).
This is not a generational trend, with fewer than half of people across all age groups in the UK dining at the table (40-47%).
The main difference between age groups is that 18-24 year olds are less likely to eat on the sofa (20%) than their elders (41-48%) – but this is a product of many in this age group living at university or in other small accommodation, with 15% saying they eat on their bed and 13% at a desk.
Video content has become an integral part of dinnertime in the UK
As with the Royles, the telly (or a modern digital equivalent) is a staple of the evening dining experience. Two thirds of Britons (67%) say they watch something while eating their main evening meal, whether it be the TV or online on a laptop or smartphone.
Again, if there were ever a generational divide over the etiquette of watching TV at dinner, it has long disappeared – 63-72% of each age group say they are getting square eyes while dining.
Unsurprisingly, those who live alone at the most likely to say they put a video on to watch while they eat (81%), as do a similar number of those who live with others but don’t eat together (78%). Nevertheless, the majority of those who live with others who they dine together with (60%) say they are normally watching something while they do so.
Among those who eat together in a household that contains children under-18, approaching half (45%) still say they are watching videos during this shared dinnertime.
By far the most likely to say they watch TV or other video content while eating their evening meal are those who sit on a sofa or armchair while doing so. Fully 93% of this group say watching content is part of their dinnertime routine, compared to 41% of those who eat at a dining table.
Combing figures for multiple questions shows that overall 39% of the British adult population sit at the sofa or armchair to eat dinner while watching the TV.
What do you think about eating at the sofa, dinnertime etiquette in general, and everything else? Have your say, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
Photo: Getty
