Information Overload: Americans Consume 34 GB of Data Daily

 By 
Barb Dybwad
 on 
Information Overload: Americans Consume 34 GB of Data Daily
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The report clarifies that we don't necessarily parse a full 100,000 words per day, but that that rather astounding figure does cross our eyes and ears each 24-hour interval via multiple channels: the Web, TV, text messaging, radio, video games and more.

The study goes on to break down which of those media tend to occupy most of our time. The big winner is still television at almost 45 percent of our daily allowance, but the computer is a not-too-distant second at about 27 percent. In all, we spend about 11.8 hours per day absorbing mass quantities of information, sometimes multitasking in front of multiple screens simultaneously.

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Video games saw the biggest leap in recent years; we now spend 2.5 percent of the day on computers, consoles, and on an increasingly popular selection of social networking games like FarmVille and Pet Society. And although pundits and sociologists have been quick to decry the decline of print as a corresponding decline in literacy, the increase in time spent on the Web actually means people are "reading more than ever," according to co-author of the study Roger Bohn.

Do the results of the study seem realistic to you? Would you classify yourself as above or below the American average in your data consumption diet?

[via Lifehacker]

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