Study Shows Voracious Appetite for Data
December 18th, 2009
Portia Krebs
The information age has given rise to an array of resources – from radio to print publications to television and the Internet. Today’s smartphones and other portable broadband-enabled devices connect us to a steady stream of information delivered through a variety of channels. So how do our data consumption habits compare to the past?
A new study conducted by researchers at the University of San Diego finds that the average American takes in 34 gigabytes of data and information each day. This represents a growth rate of approximately 350 percent in information consumption over three decades. Researchers attribute this exponential growth to modern, cross-platform habits that have created a culture that shifts easily between mediums, including the Internet, radio, text messages and video games.
According to the study, Americans take in approximately 100,000 words per day – whether from reading online and print publications to listening to television and radio. And while time spent reading print media may have declined, the added time spent reading and surfing online adds up to more daily reading than previously documented.
How exactly do we divide our time between data channels? TV watching dominates with an average five hours of daily viewing. Gaming jumped in popularity, consuming nearly 55 percent of the total daily data bytes. The average time spent on the computer was approximately two hours per day, and radio listening rang in at just over two hours. Not surprisingly in our ultra-connected, multi-tasking world, many of these activities occurred simultaneously – such as text messaging or checking email while watching television.
With broadband-driven communications channels proliferating and integrating with a variety of technologies, our access to information has never been so vast or diverse–making it easy to stay connected and entertained in our modern world.
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