Laypeople saying the Divine Office is a relatively recent development in the Latin Church. When I was young, that devotion was generally practiced by clergy and religious. Lay people who wished to pray an “Office” prayer often prayed the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which at that point was also, I believe, required for Brown Scapular wearers. (It’s now been changed so you can use other devotions such as 15 decades of Rosary per week.) The Divine Office is also somewhat complicated to pray and in the pre-Internet/ pre-app/ pre-mobile phone days, required people to buy books, probably multiple volumes, and carry them around in order to pray. Most people wouldn’t have known which books to buy, where to get them, how to use them, and might not have had the money for them.
When I was young, it was encouraged that families should say the Rosary together. I think this was partly because of Fr. Peyton (now Venerable Fr. Peyton) and his wide promotion of the family rosary, and many Catholics in USA also believed in regularly praying the rosary for the conversion of Russia, based on the Fatima apparitions. In the 60s and 70s it was also encouraged for families to read Scripture together; they were encouraged to have a Bible in the house and read it (the parishes or Catholic schools would often help you get a Bible by offering them at low prices), or use their Missal as a source of scripture readings. Those were really the only two prayers and devotions that were widely promoted.
Nowadays, the Divine Office is promoted much more than it used to be. For example, there are free copies of Magnificat magazine at many churches, and more churches have Vespers prayer services. There are also apps you can use on your phone to pray the Divine Office and websites where you can access it online, so you don’t necessarily need to go buy a bunch of books. There are also guides teaching people how to pray it.
Even so, it’s more of an activity for serious Catholics, in part due to the time it takes to learn it and pray it. Catholics who convert from Protestant faiths might prefer to just read their Bibles without having to go through an elaborate prayer structure that includes things like the Magnificat. The Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet are much simpler devotions and are more frequently prayed in church prayer groups. I can find a group to pray Rosary and Divine Mercy with almost every day at a large number of parishes, but it takes more effort to find a group praying Vespers or other parts of the Divine Office. And we are living in an era where, according to various priests, many children aren’t even being taught the basic prayers like Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Angel of God, and Grace Before/ After Meals at home. If they aren’t even learning the basic short prayers, then the Divine Office is going to be a huge, daunting task.
