Adults spend nearly two workdays a week online
December 28, 2009 by Valerie HelmbreckPosted in: Communication, Special Report, User behavior, Web 2.0, Web browsers, Web sites, e-commerce
The latest survey of computer users found that Internet usage has nearly doubled in the decade that’s ending this week. Today’s user now spends nearly two full workdays a week on the Web. Compare that to the seven hours users spend online back in 2000.
And for anyone with products or services to sell, the most important data from the survey will be that 50% of folks who went online bought something.
A new Harris Poll found that adult Internet users now spend an average of 13 hours a week online.
Usage varies greatly, however; one in five (20%) of adult Internet users are online for only two hours or less a week while one in seven (14%) are spending 24 or more hours a week online.
Some background on the study: Harris Interactive polled 2,029 adults by telephone between July 7 and 12 and October 13 and 18, 2009.
Over the years the average hours spent online have increased from seven hours in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002, to between 8 and 9 hours in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
In 2007, it jumped to 11 hours. Last year (in October after the financial crisis broke and before the presidential election) Internet users were online for 14 hours a week, double the usage from 1999 to 2002.
Other interesting findings in this Harris Poll include:
- The age groups that spend the most time online are those ages 30-39 (18 hours), 25-29 (17 hours) and 40-49 (17 hours).
- Half (50%) of all those online bought something on the Internet in the last month. This includes 62% of those ages 30-39 and 56% of those ages 40-49.
- The number of adults online, now 184 million (80%), has not changed significantly since 2008 and 2007. This includes those online at work, at home, at school or any other locations.
- However, the number of adults who are online at home has increased to 76% this year, and 75% last year, compared to 70% in 2006, and 66% in 2005.
The Harris folks say the increase in the number of hours spent online in the last two years compared to all previous years is striking. It probably reflects a growing ability to use the Internet, an increase in sites and applications, increased TV watching online and increased purchasing online.
Also, hours online may have increased because of the recession. Going online is free; going out usually costs money.
The survey also suggests that now, instead of just using a work computer to navigate the Web, users are getting their own systems and learning to use and maintain them at home.
This has likely created greater demand for desktops, laptops, wireless routers and all the peripherals that are used with a computer.
So if adults are now spending 13 hours a week online, what were they doing in the past with that time? If you take a look at the industries in decline, you’ll likely be able to figure it out. Most likely, they were reading newspapers and watching TV with those 13 hours.
Or perhaps they were talking to family members, preparing home cooked meals or visiting friends.
To read more about the Harris Interactive survey, visit their site and have a look at the data for yourself.
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Tags: Harris Interactive, Internet, poll, usage
December 29th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Article is a bit unclear; are they spending 40% of their worktime online? Or 13-16 hours after hours online? Or some of each?
Coincidentally, I find I spend close to 10 or more hours a week doing work after hours. Good thing I love my job.
December 29th, 2009 at 10:52 am
The headline is poorly written & misleading. There is nothing in the article that supports the contention that this is work time.
December 29th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Slow news day, eh?
December 29th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
The article heading is very misleading. If you look at the survey there is a mix of time spent on line at home, work and elsewhere. It does not address whether the time spent on line at work was work related or not. All and all, not a very useful bit of information other than to confirm what we all know already, internet usage continues to grow.
December 29th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
The biggest problem isn’t with the headline being misleading or the underlying survey. It is in the very first sentence, and it is a bit telling about our current financial situation. The last time I checked, a decade has 10 years in it. We begin counting at 1, not zero, and the decade ends at 10. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. So the current decade does not end this week; it ends on 31 Dec 2010. The next decade starts with 1 Jan 2011 (begins with 1, remember?).
You’d think that a financial magazine would at least get the numbers right when everyone else is screwing this up.
December 29th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Who’s this royal “we” you speak of Gary?
December 29th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Come on, Valerie, are you that inept in math? If there are 10 M&M’s laying on the table, do you start counting 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and then say you have 9 M&M’s because you started at 0? If you do, then I guess that leaves you out of the “we.”
December 29th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Hey, Gary, you’re making a public fool of yourself over an argument that nobody else cares about. Save it for the New Year’s Eve party, huh?
December 29th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I don’t know too much about when decades start/end but they are probably starting with year 2000 and ending with 2009, which equal 10 years. I always thought of 1990-1999 as a decade not 1991-2000;even though that may be the techical start/end of the decade but who cares! I am sure that I am wrong when I say that year 2000 is the start of the new century but I think year 2000 was a bigger deal than 2001.
Happy New Years or I guess I should say “Happy Start of New Decade” or not.
December 29th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
I may be asked to turn in my Geek Card for this, but a decade can be any period of ten years, whether you count 0 thru 9, 1 thru 10, or 5 thru 14! If you’re going to call a decade “the Nineties,” for example, it makes a lot more sense for that decade to include all 10 years whose tens digit is a 9, i.e., all those that have the word “ninety” in the year number.
However, the Third Millennium CE clearly refers to years 2001-3000. Nevertheless, the software crisis was related not to the changing of the millennium, but to the change from 99 to 00. And frankly, the 2000/2001controversy just isn’t important enough for me to lose any sleep, much less any friends, over.
December 30th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Well said, Hiram & Ami.
January 4th, 2010 at 8:29 am
And now we know how “we” spend our tme on the internet — thanks to all for the clarification of the article and for educating me on decades!