[Air-l] Statistics Canada - General Social Survey: The Internet and the way we spend our time

[Frank Thomas]

I think it's no simple as that.

1/ Time use studies as the one mentioned often record only the major 
activity, to reduce the reporting burden of the respondent. So, what do 
you report when doing household chores and having the radio, or TV 
running and you listen, or hear, at the same time? The same is true of 
the kids in front of the screen who play a game together - is this to be 
reported as a PC activity or a social one?

2/ And writing emails - a social or an Internet activity? We know people 
largely use the Internet as an additional communication tool. So people 
who use the Internet for more than an hour per day for personal use will 
probably write quite a lot of emails. This is called asocial ? I might 
add: If it wouldn't be an email but a letter that takes the time - would 
this cause a social concern ?
>
> *Internet use* covers personal use of the Internet over a 24-hour 
> period and does not include use of the Internet for other reasons 
> (e.g., work or school).
>
> ...
>
> *Heavy users* are those who spent more than one hour on the Internet 
> during the day
>
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060802/d060802a.htm

If I remember well Nie also reported that heavy Internet users were less 
sociable face to face than others but mixed Internet use and email use.

3/ Multivariate study can provide result that contradict the Canadian 
results. After taking the socio-demographic composition and social 
capital indicators in a multivariate analysis into consideration, as we 
did in the SOCQUIT project, I did NOT find that regular Internet 
correlates with people having less contacts.

Also, concerning civic activities, in my analysis based on European 
Social Survey data I got the contrary of the following Canadian result:
> Heavy Internet users also devoted less time to participating in .., 
> engaging in civic and volunteer activities, ... .

But maybe delving into the report will solve these contradictions

- F. Thomas




Ulf-Dietrich Reips wrote:
> Interesting effect ;-) As surprising as finding that people who 
> almost always use a car for transportation lead a different lifestyle 
> than those who exclusively use horses for transportation. And those 
> who are almost always on the road spend less time socializing with 
> their spouse or partner, or their children and friends. And they may 
> also not have time to indulge in outdoor activities.
> So what?
> Sad to see this type of study reflected in the media over and over again.
> Regards, --u
>
> At 10:18 Uhr -0400 2.8.2006, Mark Bell wrote:
>   
>> Folks,
>>
>> This was posted on Canoe.ca today:
>>
>> "Heavy Internet users are different
>> 2006-08-02 09:40:00
>>
>> OTTAWA (CP) - There's a new study that says heavy Internet users lead a
>> considerably different lifestyle than people who do not surf the web.
>>
>> Statistics Canada says it found that heavy Net users spent less time to
>> socializing with their spouse or partner, or their children and friends.
>>
>> And they tended to stay at home, showing less interest in outdoor activities
>> than non-users."
>>
>> Rest of article:
>> http://money.canoe.ca/News/Sectors/Entertainment/2006/08/02/1715240-cp.html
>>
>> More information about the study can be found here:
>> http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060802/d060802a.htm
>>
>> Happy reading,
>>
>> M
>>
>> --
>> Mark Bell
>> MA student in Ball State University's Digital Storytelling program
>> http://www.storygeek.com
>> "The future is here...it's just not widely distributed." - Tim O'Reilly
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>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>   


-- 
..........................................
Dr. Frank Thomas
FTR Internet Research
93110 Rosny-sous-Bois
France