In the last year and a half, working from home has become a reality for many. And it comes with many challenges, such as balancing work and life.

After the start of the global pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, the business world had to adapt to a new normal - working from their own homes.

A recent worldwide study by OfficeNeedle suggests that adapting to the new normal includes many distractions in the home that compete for the attention of remote workers during office hours. Depending on whether they live alone or not, have children or not, the participants of the study revealed many distractions that occupy their work-from-home time.

Mobiles Phones & Social Media

First of all, mobile phones pose the biggest distraction for 56% of those who work from home. Secondly, social media is also a common distraction for 44%.

Out of all the social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are the most popular. At least around half of the polled participants identified those platforms as the ones they use unrelated to work during office hours.

When asked about how intensively they use social media during work, 25% responded they do so for under half an hour. Around 30% of the overall 670 participants said they use social media between half an hour and one hour. Finally, 28% spend over an hour of their office hours on social media unrelated to work.

Other Apps

Besides social media, half of the surveyed participants (50%) mentioned instant messaging apps as apps they use unrelated to work while working from home. Shopping, gaming, and educational apps are also popular.

Phone & Video Call Distractions

Around 50% of all the participants disclosed they spend time on phone and video calls unrelated to work. These distractions usually take up under 30 minutes of office hours for 30% of the polled participants.

40% Are Distracted By Other House Members

For the number of participants who do not live alone, other house members are a big distraction. Moreover, almost 60% of them admit to leaving work aside to help other members of the house with things during working hours.

Parents Working From Home

Over half of all the survey takers were parents. Thirty-one percent of them take care of their children every day during office hours. On the other hand, 13% do so sometimes.

Cooking & Cleaning

Instead of a lunch break, working from home has entailed cooking during working hours for many of the remote workers. Almost seven in 10 (67%) cook during working hours when working from home.

Besides cooking, house chores are also a big distraction. Around 77% of the people who took the survey do house chores during office hours. Most of them spend under half an hour on this activity.

Time For A Shower?

Around 42% of the remote workers shower or take a bath during office hours. The majority of them need under 30 minutes to do so.

Other Distractions

On-demand streaming platforms deserve a mention here, as well. Around 55% watch Netflix and other such providers when they are not supposed to while working from home.

Also, 36% play video games when they should be working instead. Out of them, 15% spend over an hour playing video games.

Dog owners make up 65% of all the participants. Out of them, 41% take their dog for a walk when they should be working instead.

Creating a balance between work and things that await your attention at home is hard when your home is also your office. However, many researchers also claim that working from home increases productivity.

The research article was originally published on OfficeNeedle and has been republished with permission.