^{Democracy & Technology Blog} Surprising Media Numbers from the Heartland

Ball State University has released findings from Middletown University Studies 2, which it terms “the most comrehensive observational media use study ever undertaken”: involving 400 participants, 5,000 hours of media use in Muncie and Indianapolis, recording information every 15 seconds on the use of 15 varieties of media–print, broadcast, telecom and Internet.
The study’s key findings:
(1) per waking day (figure 16 hours), 30% with media as sole activiy, 39% with media while doing something else and 21% work activity;
(2) in any given hour 30% had the TV on, with 70% in peak hours;
(3) TV still tops at 240.9 minutes (4 hours). cedon is the computer at 120 mins. (2 hours);
(4) 30% of all media time is with more than one simultaneous media exposure;
(5) ages 18-24 spend less–yes, LESS–time online than any age group save over 65;
(6) ages 40-65 show more concurrent media exposure than ages 18-39;
(7) women multitask more than do men;
(8) Web, e-mail and phone usage is “substantially higher” than any other day of the week.