I have to admit...plot content is not the only reason I watch Cold Case. ;)
Posted on 12/29/2004 9:39:18 PM PST by freespirited
The average Internet user in the United States spends three hours a day online, with much of that time devoted to work and more than half of it to communications, according to a survey conducted by a group of political scientists.
The survey found that use of the Internet has displaced television watching and a range of other activities. Internet users watch television for one hour and 42 minutes a day, compared with the national average of two hours, said Norman H. Nie, director of the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society, a research group that has been exploring the social consequences of the Internet.
"People don't understand that time is hydraulic," he said, meaning that time spent on the Internet is time taken away from other activities.
A 2000 study by the researchers that reported increasing physical isolation among Internet users created a controversy and drew angry complaints from some users who insisted that time they spent online did not detract from their social relationships.
However, the researchers said they had now gathered further evidence showing that in addition to its impact on television viewing, Internet use has lowered the amount of time people spend socializing with friends and even sleeping.
According to the study, an hour of time spent using the Internet reduces face-to-face contact with friends, co-workers and family by 23.5 minutes, lowers the amount of time spent watching television by 10 minutes and shortens sleep by 8.5 minutes.
The researchers acknowledged that the study data did not answer questions about whether Internet use itself strengthened or weakened social relations with one's friends and family.
"It's a bit of a two-edged sword," Mr. Nie said. "You can't get a hug or a kiss or a smile over the Internet." Many people are still more inclined to use the telephone for contact with family, he said.
The latest study also found that online game playing has become a major part of Internet use.
Over all, 57 percent of Internet use was devoted to communications like e-mail, instant messaging and chat rooms, and 43 percent for other activities including Web browsing, shopping and game playing. Users reported that they spent 8.7 percent of their Internet time playing online games.
The study also found that although the Internet is widely employed for communications, users spend little of their online time in contact with family members.
Of the time devoted to communication, just a sixth was spent staying in touch with family members, significantly less than the time spent on work-related communications and contact with friends.
The study found that as much as 75 percent of the population in the United States now has access to the Internet either at home or work.
"It is remarkable that this expansion of use has happened in just a decade since the invention of the Web browser," Mr. Nie said. That rate of growth is almost as fast as the spread of the telephone, and is impressive because the computer is more complicated to use, he said.
The study, titled "What Do Americans Do on the Internet?" also found that junk e-mail and computer maintenance take up a significant amount of the time spent online each day.
Respondents reported spending 14 minutes daily dealing with computer problems. That would suggest that Internet users spend a total of 10 workdays each year dealing with such problems.
The study, the latest in an annual series, was based on a survey of 4,839 people between the ages of 18 and 64 who were randomly selected. Respondents were asked to create detailed diaries of how they spent their time during six randomly selected hours of the previous day.
Data collection was performed by Knowledge Networks, a survey research firm based in Menlo Park, Calif. The researchers plan to release the study on Monday on their Web site, www.stanford.edu/group/siqss.
Thirty-one percent of the survey sample reported using the Internet on the day before they were surveyed. Researchers classified this group as Internet users.
The researchers found that the amount of Internet use does not differ by gender. But women on average use e-mail, instant messaging and social networking more than men, while men spend more time browsing, reading discussion groups and participating in chat rooms.
Younger people in the sample tended to favor immediate forms of online communication, while older people used e-mail more frequently.
Those are endlessly fascinating to my wife, and I have to skip through those real fast if she is in the room.
About all I watch are Brit Hume, World Poker Tour on TLC, and some of the late night comedies on TV Land.
You are exactly correct. There is a new home makeover show, or monster garage themed show started about every other day.
The first shows of these types were great, innovative, interesting and fun. But the TV executives don't know when to stop - they all just jump on the bandwagon to where I now don't even bother to stop to watch when i see someone trying to pimp up a house or vehicle.
You're a frickin GENIUS!
"Pimp my Laptop!"
Now that would be an innovative show.
I'm socializing right now.
Group hug everyone!!!
You misspelled pR0n.
I have to admit...plot content is not the only reason I watch Cold Case. ;)
Not quite a genius. Just an accomplished Master of the Obvious.
Only thing worse than a spelling nazi is a 1337 spelling nazi.
Sheesh.
The word he was looking for was "fungible".
It's pathentic what's happened to cable. Even TechTV has gone gamer stupid. If it weren't for FNC, C-Span and the History Channel I would cancel cable. I've even gone back to PBS for Nova and shows of that type. Sure, it's slanted left but it doesn't insult my intellegence like the afore mentioned garbage. It's just a shame what has happened to cable. It's a vast wasteland.
Amen to that.
Takes away time for socializing? Good grief. The internet has allowed me to keep in touch with my very good friends from college on a regular basis via instant messaging and e-mail.
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