Geek Nation: Average U.S. Web user now spends 13 hours online every week
How much time do you spend online in a normal week? If it’s less than 13 hours then you’re below average, more and you are clearly an Internet-loving geek. Join the club – it’s growing all the time.
It’s amazing to think that the Internet has only been with us in this mainstream way it’s used now for around 15 years. Before that, it was the domain (excuse the pun) of the super-geeky or super-rich. Now, we’re all geeks, with the majority of the population owning a PC and regularly going online.
Polling organization Harris Interactive recently surveyed 2,029 adults by telephone to find out all about how the Internet is used and by who. Its findings indicate geekdom has never been so rife, with more of us online than ever and the hours spent on the Internet having grown substantially since these surveys were first taken.
Eighty percent of U.S. adults are now online to some degree. That’s 184 million people, the same amount as in 2008. In 1995, the figure was just 9 percent, rising to 56 percent by 1999. Ninety-eight percent of all computer users are now connected to the Internet, and the other two percent must be slightly strange.
The average time spent online is now around 13 hours per week, not including for emails. That’s actually down from the 14 hour average measured this time last year, when the Presidential election and the ensuing financial crisis conspired to mean people were spending more time online than ever before. 1999 through 2002 the figure was seven hours, and it’s gradually increased ever since then.
In terms of age groups, it’s the 30-39-year -olds who spend the most time online, averaging 18 hours per week. While the 65-plus age group only manage a paltry eight hours. However, that still shows an increase in the number of silver surfers.
These figures should come as no surprise really because virtually everything can be done online now – banking, shopping, dating, working, communication – so people are naturally going to spend longer online.
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