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Breathe, watch TV; breathe, watch TV

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 15, 2006

No. 1 on the list of things that Americans spend the most time doing is still breathing.

That might seem obvious, but No. 2 was a little surprising: media use.

The umbrella description for listening to the radio, surfing the Internet, reading newspapers ... and of course, watching television.

Since the start of the millennium, media use has risen every year, helped by faster and easier ways to get information and entertainment.

Over the next 12 months, Americans are projected to average more than 9 1/2 hours a day with the media, according to statistics in a new government report.

Hours spent doing two things at once, such as watching TV and using the Internet, are counted twice in the report.

Americans spend an average of 4 1/2 hours a day watching television, far more time than they spend on any other medium. Next come the radio and the Internet. Reading newspapers is fourth, passed this year by Internet use.

The data on media use are part of the Census Bureau's annual Statistical Abstract of the United States, a 999-page book of numbers quantifying just about every aspect of American life, to be released today.

The number of hours projected for next year in different categories:

hours using various media. That's up from 3,333 at the start of the decade.

hours watching television, up from 1,467 in 2000.

hours listening to the radio, up from 942 in 2000.

hours using the Internet, up from 104.

hours reading daily newspapers, down from 201.

hours reading magazines, down from 135.

hours reading books, down an hour.

hours playing video games, up from 64.

[Last modified December 15, 2006, 01:00:49]