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40 Million Just Hang Out Online Each Day (just to pass time)
Internet Broadcasting Systems ^ | 2/17/06

Posted on 02/17/2006 4:43:04 PM PST by Mr. Brightside

40 Million Just Hang Out Online Each Day

POSTED: 10:46 am EST February 17, 2006

About 40 million Internet users go online just for fun or to pass the time each day, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Some 30 percent of Internet users go online on any given day for no particular reason, just for fun or to pass the time. That makes it one of the most populat online activities and indicates that the online environment is increasingly popular as a place for people to spend their free time, the group said.

Surfing for fun now stands only behind sending or receiving email (52 percent) and using a search engine (38 percent) as typical daily activities. It is in a virtual tie for third with getting news (31 percent).

In a survey in late November 2004, the group found about 25 million people went online on any given day just to browse for fun.

Two-thirds of people in the survey said that they go online sometimes for fun or just to pass the time. Thirty percent said they had done it the day before they were asked.

Thirty-four percent of men said they had done it the previous day, but only 26 percent of women, though the numbers who had ever done it were similar.

Broadband users at home were more likely to just play online that those with a dialup connection.

The group said that, along with greater broadband penetration, part of the reason for leisurely Web surfing is an increase in content. The Google index of Web pages, for example, has grown over 1,000 times in size since its launch in 1998. The number of websites grew from 17 million in the middle of 2000 to 65 million in the middle of 2005.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: darhsheare; eaker; internet
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To: the anti-liberal
...could put a strait-jacket on (TV) writers...

And what a good idea!

41 posted on 02/17/2006 5:35:01 PM PST by TheyConvictedOglethorpe
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To: TheyConvictedOglethorpe

I'll definately second that.


42 posted on 02/17/2006 5:36:21 PM PST by the anti-liberal (Hey, Al Qaeda: Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent)
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To: Eaker
When I do I use a fake name.

Of course you do, you depend upon your anonymity hiding behind
a screen name to enable you to be such a bloody ass. If you
were using your real name you would be much more civil.

Weenerhead.

43 posted on 02/17/2006 5:39:41 PM PST by humblegunner (If you're gonna die, die with your boots on.)
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To: Mr. Brightside; NormsRevenge; Ernest_at_the_Beach; glock rocks; Grampa Dave

Caught!!!


44 posted on 02/17/2006 5:40:04 PM PST by tubebender (Everything I know about computers I learned on Free Republic...)
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To: ElkGroveDan
Some of us come here to argue.


45 posted on 02/17/2006 5:40:47 PM PST by Mr. Brightside (I know what I like.)
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To: Mr. Brightside
With a cable connection I am always connected so I am basically ALWAYS online when I am home.

I am probably on an off the internet dozens of times everyday and work.
..checking my email, the weather, News, the TV guide, FR message boards, my 401K, credit card and bank accounts, stocks & gold prices, downloading music, shopping, booking trips, flights, hotels, car rentals, Mapquest, WebMD, Casino sites, and basically an infinite variety of interests.........

I don't think I could stay in the house if I didn't have the internet.

46 posted on 02/17/2006 5:46:34 PM PST by Jorge
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To: Mr. Brightside; ElkGroveDan
Some of us come here to argue.

And some of us hang out, just to watch you argue.

And some of us are here just for the pics.



Cheers,

knewshound
47 posted on 02/17/2006 5:46:44 PM PST by knews_hound (Now with two handed typing !)
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To: Howlin
Why is it that when I have time to hang out online and give my commentary, the top stories are like: "Man Leaves Lunch On Airline Flight" and "Firemen Rescue Cat From Endagered Tree"?

Why can't nights like this be when we find out that Jesse Jackson has a illegitimate child with Hillary Clinton?
48 posted on 02/17/2006 5:46:58 PM PST by Mr. Brightside (I know what I like.)
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To: humblegunner

Caught me.

My checks are printed "Wienerhead".

Ya bonehead!


49 posted on 02/17/2006 5:52:23 PM PST by Eaker (My Wife Rocks! - Islam is the cancer, the US Military and Militia is the answer!)
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To: Mr. Brightside

If they checked every 8 hours I got counted 3 times:')


50 posted on 02/17/2006 5:54:41 PM PST by CindyDawg
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To: Dark Skies
I suggest it is time for islam to come onto this field...let's see how it performs!

Heh.. now you want cyber fatwahs? (J/K)

It would be exposed and perform miserably... but thats your point. ;o)

51 posted on 02/17/2006 5:55:43 PM PST by USF (I see your Jihad and raise you a Crusade ™ © ®)
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To: Hardastarboard
Not me. I don't hang out on a conservative website posting smart-ass comments. No way.

And I sure wouldn't be caught dead wasting time responding to them.

52 posted on 02/17/2006 5:56:54 PM PST by JustaCowgirl (Jimmy Carter -- as ugly and loathsome as a Democrat funeral.)
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To: Lady Jag

I'm looking for a treadmill with a computer:')


53 posted on 02/17/2006 5:58:53 PM PST by CindyDawg
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To: Delta 21

I check the saddle club, the breaking news and then the weather.


54 posted on 02/17/2006 6:01:39 PM PST by CindyDawg
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To: Mr. Brightside

What I've always said about the internet that makes it superior to, say, television, is that it is interactive. You can tell it what you want and go to find the news/data/chat you want to discuss instead of wading through commercials for a bunch of teletext readers to TELL you what they think you need to know.

Granted, television still has its plusses but if I had to do away with one or the other for the rest of my life, I'd keep my internet and kill my television.


55 posted on 02/17/2006 6:02:05 PM PST by Tall_Texan (Hate means never having to say you're crazy.)
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To: Lady Jag
Heck, I'm addicted to freeping!
Windy enough for you? I was just up on the observing deck, and I'm a popsicle!
56 posted on 02/17/2006 6:02:39 PM PST by Beaker
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To: CindyDawg

Wake up in the morning:
1) Check e-mail
2)Check the weather
3)Check FR (post)
4)Browse a couple of sites
5)Re check my e-mail
6)Get my lazy bottom out of the chair to start my day and go to work.


57 posted on 02/17/2006 6:04:41 PM PST by Beaker
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To: Howlin
Ummmmmmmmmmm...is reading news, debating, chatting, FREEPmailing, sending prayers for those in need, and having fun, a bad thing? :-)
58 posted on 02/17/2006 6:04:49 PM PST by nopardons
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To: Mr. Brightside

Welcome to that club; but I told that to my husband. LOL


59 posted on 02/17/2006 6:05:45 PM PST by nopardons
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To: Beaker

Since I got banned at work, sometimes I come home at lunch:')


60 posted on 02/17/2006 6:09:45 PM PST by CindyDawg
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