How much time do you think you waste in a day?
I was reading an article about how much time we spend on the internet, tv, radio, streaming, email, using apps, and social media. In the US, we average an astounding 10 hours and 39 minutes a day doing all these activities.
Some people can listen to radio while they work so I don’t see this as a valid addition, but the other stuff? Yeah. I can see that. According to the study, we’re divided by age. The over-50 age bracket watches more tv than Millennials. And it comes as no surprise that younger people surf the net and use more apps than older people.
It can be argued that you’re not really wasting time if that’s how you decompress, but I think that’s kind of a cheat. The brain doesn’t rest if it’s constantly being stimulated. That’s why medical professionals tell you to turn off the tv and computer a couple of hours before bedtime.
On average we watch 2-3 hours of tv or streamed movies a night. Greg might watch a little more because I tend to get antsy when I know I have something to do.
I spend another two hours on the net in the morning usually reading and responding to emails, with intermittent breaks throughout the day poking into social media and blog reading. For the sake of argument, I’ll be generous and say I spend an additional two hours on the net for a total of four hours a day.
That means I spend 6-7 hours a day on the net or watching media. Some of that time is either work related or necessary viewing to stay abreast of current events, but the rest of it is entirely for folly.
Sometimes when I hear people say they have no time, I wonder if they take their “down time” into consideration. Do we really have no time to exercise, eat right, or play with the kids, or are we hiding behind Facebook and online games?
For years I refused to get the internet at home and at work. I know I speak blasphemy, but it’s true. I knew even back then it was a rabbit hole.
I prefer to be physically active only because I’m the fidgety type. The only time I actually enjoy sitting down and doing nothing is after I’ve worked my keester off. If I’m too tired to lift my arms, all I want to do is watch an old movie, something I’ve already seen so my brain doesn’t have to engage.
I’m old enough to remember pre-internet days. For some reason I don’t remember anyone back then saying they had no time. I’ve actually given this some serious thought. We were busy, but when the work was done we spent time with family or actual flesh and blood friends.
We read more. We savored every page of a newspaper. Meals were always sit-down and slower. And we took more Sunday drives to nowhere in particular. I miss the drives. We used to pick a new destination every week and discover our “back yard”. Going to the movies was date night. Eating out wasn’t just grabbing a bite. We actually had real conversations over dinner.
So what do you think? Do you know how much time you spend a day on media, social media, and the internet? If you’re old enough to remember pre-internet days, what did you do back in the day in your spare time?
