Information Consumption Patterns in the USA

Highlights from a report on American consumers indicate that in USA, bytes of information consumed by individuals have grown at 5.4 percent annually since 1980. They spend nearly three hours per day on the computer, not including time at work and spend a huge amount of time at home receiving information, an average of 11.8 hours per day. Roughly 3.6 zettabytes (or 3,600 exabytes) of information were consumed in American homes in 2008.
Computer and video games account for 55 percent of all information bytes consumed in the home, because modern game consoles and PCs create huge streams of graphics.

Following table indicates the television and radio consumption in US.



According to the above table the estimated 292 million U.S. viewers average nearly five hours of TV viewing per day. Total TV viewing accounts for 41 percent of total hours of information consumption, and nearly 35 percent of total bytes.
The problem with being online most of the time is that we fail to prioritize and separate what's necessary from what's a burden. And that is exactly why we get tempted to check every new tool and article.
The first step towards being more productive and reducing information overload is setting time limits. Set specific time limits for reading feeds, twittering, connecting on Facebook etc.
Make a priority list of tasks and keep the most important work first on the list. And allot it the first time slot of 15-20 minutes when starting the day.

According to a 2009 Report on American Consumers “How Much Information”, because of computers, a full third of words and more than half of bytes are now received interactively.

Along with the rest of society, students began to use the internet to explore websites and research material, obtain access to niche experts, publish articles, read & disburse news, and socialize and share information, all at a very rapid pace.

The following table indicates the shares of information in different formats Per Average American, Per Day.



According to the above table, INFOC bytes are completely dominated by video sources: movies, TV, and computer games. Consumption time, INFOH on the other hand, is primarily used for video and audio (radio, telephone, and recorded music). Words, finally, come heavily from text sources (newspapers, magazine, books, and Internet use).

Contrasting measurements of INFOH, INFOC and INFOW



According to the above graph we spent 16 percent of our information hours using the Internet (versus 41 percent for TV), and receive 25 percent of our words INFOW from it (versus 45 percent from TV). The Internet was the source of only 2 percent of our INFOC bytes (versus 35 percent for TV).

To see the complete research report, please click here.