Average American Consumers Up To 9 Hours of Media – A
Day!
Media, media everywhere, and no time left to think?
AP News
The average American is a
ravenous media junkie, consuming up to nine hours a day of television, web time
or cellphone minutes, according to new research which
raises fresh questions about how technology is revolutionising
society.
From iPods
filling commuters' ears, the screens scrolling headlines in the elevator at
work to proliferating on-the-move tools like cellphones
and Blackberry handhelds, media is everywhere in the United States, like much
of the rest of the developed world.
As information technology marches on, and search engine giant Google even
raises the prospect of free wireless Internet access for whole cities, media in
all its forms is almost impossible to escape.
"What does this mean for
society?" said Professor Bob Papper, co-author
of a study at
There has been plenty of
speculation on the impact on daily life of fast expanding media. One theory for
instance has it that as people become more and more connected electronically, they are becoming less and less connected
personally.
Some experts
question whether as consumers are swamped by information, they lose the ability
to decipher fact from rumor, or find it hard to think through what they hear.
Academic research has yet to
prove or disprove such theories, said Papper, who is
launching a series of companion studies, including one probing why people are
spending so much time online, on the cellphone, or
watching television, and how their personalities are affected.
"The average person
spends about nine hours per day using some type of media, which is arguably in
excess of anything we would have envisaged 10 years ago," Papper told AFP.
The
"When we combine time
spent on the Web, using e-mail, instant messaging and software such as word
processing, the computer eclipses all other media with the single exception of
television," Papper said.
The
On a typical day at the end
of 2004, 70 million Americans went online to use email, get news, find health and medical information, book travel or
countless other activities, a figure 37 percent higher than four years before,
the survey found.
That figure looks set to
grow, as new low cost technologies spread the benefits of the world wide web to social groups so far cut out of the information
revolution.
Google has announced a
proposal for free wireless Internet access for the whole of San Francisco, and
a new project from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology envisages a 100
dollar laptop, to be handed out first to poor children in developing countries.
The
Among the most interesting
conclusions was that 30 percent of 'media time' is spent on one or more device,
as people perhaps have on eye on the latest reality show on tv
while shuffling through their email.
Another suprising
find is that 18 to 24-year-olds spend less time online than any other age group
except for the over 65s, giving the lie to the idea that young adults are the
most computer literate.
The survey, which found
Fridays have the heaviest web and mobile phone traffic, is a minefield of data
for advertisers keen to find out who is watching, when.
"If media usage
increases on Fridays based on the assumption that people are planning social
activities, then this would be potentially the best day to advertise movies,
drink and food specials and other products," said Mike Bloxam,
a member of the Ball State research team.
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