Findings from a new Forrester Research study have revealed that for the first time, US residents are spending on average as much time to online activities as they are to watching TV.

The increased time spent online isn’t reducing the time spent watching TV, which has remained at an average of 13 hours per week in recent years.

Since 2005, US households have increased time spent online by 121 per cent, a trend ascribed to a rise in online activities among members of Generation X (ages 31 to 44) and younger Baby Boomers (ages 45 to 54).

According to report author Jackie Rousseau-Anderson, some of the available time is being drawn from the decreased use of print media, but increasingly people are finding new ways to incorporate the Internet into their daily lives at times where, before, media wasn’t part of the picture. “And of course, there’s the issue of multitasking,” she wrote in a blog post.

Other factors driving up time spent online include the continued adoption of broadband at home and the prevalence of mobile phones, both of which have led to increased Internet usage. Among Internet-connected households, 91 per cent have broadband, while US adults today are as likely to have a mobile phone as they are to have a PC.

Similar reports will also be completed for Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America in the New Year.

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