Study: Media consumption takes up half the day
Rund die Hälfte des Tages verbringen Menschen mit fernsehen, surfen und telefonieren. Zu diesem Schluss kommt eine Studie der britischen Regulierungsbehörde Ofcom.
On average, a person is awake for 15 hours and 45 minutes. However, a full seven hours and five minutes now fall victim to media and communication activities. "This trend can be explained by the fact that people have to work less compared to the past, so they have more free time and need to fill it," says Holger Schramm, media psychologist at the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich, in an interview with Pressetext. "People like to use media because it is readily available and satisfies their social and emotional needs."
According to the study, a quarter of online time is lost to social networks. In reality, people may be rejected or not accepted into a certain circle of friends, says Schramm. The media world serves as a social substitute here, as it is much easier to get to know people there.
Traditional media still dominate
The majority of people who use social networks are between 16 and 34 years old. According to Ofcom, however, there is a trend that older people are also increasingly interested in these services. "This shift can be explained by the fact that the user-friendliness of the internet has increased significantly," says Schramm.
Despite the growth of digital media, traditional media such as TV and radio continue to dominate people's communication habits. "Media only displace other media when they can do something better. Of course, there are already many functions that work better on the internet, but users are usually not yet as familiar with them," says Schramm. "The younger the generation, the more the Internet displaces television."
However, predictions that the internet will replace television are premature. According to Ofcom, people watched an average of three hours and 45 minutes of television per day in 2009. This is three percent more than in 2004, so TV is still a fixed point in people's daily lives.
According to the study, a quarter of online time is lost to social networks. In reality, people may be rejected or not accepted into a certain circle of friends, says Schramm. The media world serves as a social substitute here, as it is much easier to get to know people there.
Traditional media still dominate
The majority of people who use social networks are between 16 and 34 years old. According to Ofcom, however, there is a trend that older people are also increasingly interested in these services. "This shift can be explained by the fact that the user-friendliness of the internet has increased significantly," says Schramm.
Despite the growth of digital media, traditional media such as TV and radio continue to dominate people's communication habits. "Media only displace other media when they can do something better. Of course, there are already many functions that work better on the internet, but users are usually not yet as familiar with them," says Schramm. "The younger the generation, the more the Internet displaces television."
However, predictions that the internet will replace television are premature. According to Ofcom, people watched an average of three hours and 45 minutes of television per day in 2009. This is three percent more than in 2004, so TV is still a fixed point in people's daily lives.
