Information overload
According to the math, your average American Joe is blasted with information 11.8 hours of each day, or about 75 per cent of the average time a person is awake. That figure is up from a measly 4.3 hours a day based on a 1960's study.
The majority of all those bytes can be broken down as follows; 54.6 percent from computer games, 34.7 percent through television and 9.8 percent from films.
The study also busts the myth that people read less nowadays, saying that while reading of the printed word has slumped from 25 per cent in 1960 to nine per cent in 2008, the amount of words read online is now about 27 per cent, or 27,122 words.
So people are actually reading more than they were 20 years ago. Indeed, if all sources are taken into account, including words which appear on TV, reading has tripled since 1980.
Surprisingly though, researchers said the annual growth rate of bytes had been slower than expected, with only a 5.4 per cent annual growth rate since 1980, when PCs started popping up in homes.
But not to worry, the culture of consumption is likely to continue, with scientists noting that high-definition TVs will likely help send next year's data figures through the roof.
