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65% of Americans Spend More Time With Their PC Than SO 291

Posted by CmdrTaco from the can't-talk-now-honey-i'm-clearing-auchindoun dept.
Ant writes "PR Newswire reports that 65 percent of consumers are spending more time with a computer than with their significant other (SO). The "Cyber Stress" study confirmed consumers' growing relationship with technology in their everyday lives. In fact, more than 8 out of 10 Americans (84%) say they are more dependent on their home computer now than they were just three years ago."
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65% of Americans Spend More Time With Their PC Than SO More

65% of Americans Spend More Time With Their PC Than SO

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  • Techno-Dystopia (Score:4, Insightful)

    by P(0)(!P(k)+P(k+1)) ( 1012109 ) <math.induction@gmail.com> on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:37PM (#17738860) Homepage Journal

    From TFA:

    “We empathize with consumers about the emotional nature of dealing with computer problems. As the leader in computer problem resolution for nearly 10 years, we have a distinct advantage in helping consumers quickly and conveniently solve their frustrating computer problems,” said Josh Pickus, CEO of SupportSoft.

    SupportSoft sells support; so they're interested in a dystopian state of affairs. (For my part, I'm still not convinced we're not dealing with a slashvertisement.)

    That said, computers play some yet-to-be-determined role in the splintering of society; as the space-time-continuum is warped, and proximity becomes irrelevant: neighbours become irrelevant.

    A real dystopia, therefore, might be the flattening of human relationships into one indifferent, indistinguishable mass.

    But since Europeans and European-Americans aren't breeding anymore, it doesn't matter: you'll all be dead within a generation.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re:Techno-Dystopia (Score:4, Interesting)

        by inviolet ( 797804 ) <slashdot&ideasmatter,org> on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:57PM (#17739230) Journal
        Several European countries have birthrates acceptably above the replacement rate (hello from Finland). The real problem with Europe's birthrate is not that they may lead to extinction of ethnic majorities (a possibility in some countries, not all), but that government services cannot be adequately maintained without enough of a growth in population.

        Interesting... because in an earlier slashdot article [slashdot.org] we read this [slashdot.org]:

        Roughly speaking, a Ponzi scheme is one in which the perpetrators make false claims in order to lure investors. Once they have some investors coming in, they begin to pay back the earliest investors in order to create hype and garner more investors. People make money in ponzi schemes, but only by being at the top of the pyramid. What separates a Ponzi scheme from an actual market is that in an actual market, the items being traded have value outside of the system itself, and that access to liquidity is therefore available at levels other than the top. The article claims that because cash exchanges and the corresponding exchange rates are controlled by the people at the 'top', they are the only people with the ability to achieve substantial liquidity, and therefore, to make any money. This is why they say it resembles a Ponzi scheme more than an actual market.

        How very amusing.

        • Re:Techno-Dystopia (Score:5, Insightful)

          by MrAnnoyanceToYou ( 654053 ) <dylan@dyRABBITla ... minus herbivore> on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @01:34PM (#17739860) Homepage Journal
          What, you're surprised government is a Ponzi scheme?

          Try, "All of Western society." Basing large organizations on finance resembles nothing more than using a just in time compiler to me. The amusing thing is that it appears there's no way people are smart enough as a whole to either design or accept a more intelligent solution.

          Reading the Wikipedia article on Ponzi shows something quite interesting - he gave people exactly what they wanted, and the only ones to get advantageous results were those who cashed out right before it all fell apart. Just another story of catastrophic market failure; I love how everyone sees these things coming and noone says, "Wait. How do we stop this before it gets too big?"

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by dfenstrate ( 202098 ) *
            Try, "All of Western society." Basing large organizations on finance resembles nothing more than using a just in time compiler to me. The amusing thing is that it appears there's no way people are smart enough as a whole to either design or accept a more intelligent solution.

            Reading the Wikipedia article on Ponzi shows something quite interesting - he gave people exactly what they wanted, and the only ones to get advantageous results were those who cashed out right before it all fell apart. Just another sto
      • if you ran your own private business the way govts run countries, you'd be in jail for fraud and racketeering within months.

        as another reply says, a lot of gov't finance is like a ponzi scheme, signup and pay now for future gains, but the gains are only paid for by future signups... e.g. pensions:
        the USA is hitting the wall at the moment, as are many other countries, in that there's no bit pot of invested money, tax received today pay's other people's pensions, so if the population shrinks it places a b

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Knuckles ( 8964 )
      proximity becomes irrelevant: neighbours become irrelevant.

      Right, I will make sure to email you when I'm sick and need groceries, or to look after my kid when I need to go out a bit.

      • Re:Techno-Dystopia (Score:4, Funny)

        by Tackhead ( 54550 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:59PM (#17739262)
        > > proximity becomes irrelevant: neighbours become irrelevant.
        >
        > Right, I will make sure to email you when I'm sick and need groceries, or to look after my kid when I need to go out a bit.

        And if you'd spent more time with your computer instead of your SO, you wouldn't have a kid who needs looking after when you need to go out a bit. More importantly, you'd have finished that "nifty robot who'd be able to go out and get your groceries for you when you're sick" project that's been sitting in your basement since you left college.

        "I look at you all, see the love there that's sleeping,
        Robo-guitar gently weeps.
        I look at the floor, and I at least Roomba's sweeping,
        Robo-guitar gently weeps."

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by misleb ( 129952 )
        Wow, your neighbors will get you groceries? I have to try that some day. ;-)

        -matthew

        • Re:Techno-Dystopia (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Hoi Polloi ( 522990 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @02:34PM (#17740766) Journal
          I used to ask my elderly neighbor (before she had to go to an assisted living home) if I could pick her up anything during my trips to the market. She couldn't drive anymore and her knees were shot from arthritis.

          "I have to try that some day."

          You should, some people really need the help.
      • Right, I will make sure to email you when I'm sick and need groceries, or to look after my kid when I need to go out a bit.

        To be fair, I wouldn't trust my current neighbors with either task (although I don't have a kid).

        Of course when you live in the ghetto, you learn to not bother each other.

        As in... I don't answer the door unless I'm expecting someone and even then we don't open the door until we have confirmed who it is.

        But I think the point of the matter is that in 20 years, having personal relationship

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by misleb ( 129952 )
      Mmm, Techno-Dystopia. Is that some new sub-sub-genre of electronic music?

      Anyway, I'd like to think that I'll last more than one generation. I mean, a generation is only, what, 25 years or so?

      -matthew

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Billosaur ( 927319 ) *

      But since Europeans and European-Americans aren't breeding anymore, it doesn't matter: you'll all be dead within a generation.

      Why do you think we fund cloning research?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by misleb ( 129952 )
        I don't know if you're joking, but just to make it clear, cloning does not mean you get a fully grown clone of yourself. You still have to raise it as a child. Why bother with cloning? Just create baby factories where they take donated eggs and sperm and make babies in test tubes. Duh!

        -matthew
        • US is ranked 137 in birth rate. If you don't count immigration, we're pretty screwed, since every person needs to have at least 3 kids. But still, we're not as fucked as Japan if you ever read that "vanishing Japanese" article or Hong Kong which is dead last according to wikipedia. Is a fact, any place with rising real estate price is proportional to the death of its citizens. It's got nothing to do with World of Warcraft.

    • Re:Techno-Dystopia (Score:5, Informative)

      by dr00g911 ( 531736 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @01:20PM (#17739570)

      (For my part, I'm still not convinced we're not dealing with a slashvertisement.)
      Um, the PR Newswire credit was all I needed to know it was a slashvertisement.

      Yeah, I work with Ad/PR agencies. Anything on Newswire is bought, paid for then copied & pasted as "news" around the globe. That's the point.

  • Does that include work-related computer use? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) * on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:38PM (#17738872)

    And does it include time spent by all the stereotypical geeks who don't have significant others?

    • Re:Does that include work-related computer use? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Nos. ( 179609 ) <andrewNO@SPAMthekerrs.ca> on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:53PM (#17739138) Homepage
      That, and does it consider time spent sleeping with your SO (and yes, I actually mean sleeping, not other "activities") as time together? My guess is that it doesn't. So, this is a very believable statistic. I spend all day at work with a computer, and some time at home. I only spend about 5 - 6 hours of waking time with my wife a day. It really doesn't say anything about how our lives are spent, just acknowledges that computers are becoming a bigger part of our lives, but they are not necessarily intruding upon our time with our families.

    • Furthermore... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by sterno ( 16320 )
      How do the following get counted:

      * Time spent chatting with your SO online
      * Time spent with your SO in a room together both using computers where you're talking with eachother, etc

      Seems like those would be time on computer as well as time with SO. Then the question becomes how quality that time is considered to be.

    • I'm not surprised more than half of Americans spend more time with their PCs. A lot of us work computer jobs, so we're in front of a computer all day. My dad worked at a potash mine when I was growing up; he worked 9 to 5, so he spent more time with the potash mine than my mom. Call me crazy, but I'm guessing people spend time with lots of work-related things more than their significant others. It's called having a day job.
  • ... but I have to go have sex with my wife.

  • My PC is my SO (Score:5, Funny)

    by Average_Joe_Sixpack ( 534373 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:39PM (#17738882)
    You insensitive clod!

  • In other news (Score:3, Funny)

    by jimstapleton ( 999106 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:39PM (#17738886) Journal
    Slashdotters, known to not have SOs, are believed to have caused a great innacuracy/bias in this report.

  • Coincidence.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by zyl0x ( 987342 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:39PM (#17738888)
    Also, on a completely different topic, World of Warcraft subscriptions have exceeded 8 million.

  • Sounds right (Score:5, Insightful)

    by WinterSolstice ( 223271 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:40PM (#17738896)
    In my family, my wife is a writer. I'm an IT guy. At night, we play WoW together.

    Added together, our total time at home together (including sleep) is about 11 hours. That means 13 hours is spent with a computer seperately right off the bat.

    Considering our nights are often spent playing 3-4 hours of WoW, that puts it at 17 hours on the computer per day. Even at best, we would spend probably 3-4 hours a day together, which wouldn't even put a dent in the usual 8-10 hours at work with a computer.

    -WS
  • Who the hell comes out with studies like this? Whos idea is it to waste money studying and interviewing people to come up with useless stats like this and what are they trying to do? Since almost everyone uses computers, almost everyone knows that they're usefull for just about everything, and almost everyone knows that there's rarely something wrong with people who spend "too much" time on them, I guess we're left with the logical assumption that it's either the Amish or really old politicians sponsering
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by lonechicken ( 1046406 )

        Apparently you have not noticed the huge rise in obesity in the United States.
        It seems like there's a rise in anorexia in the U.S. as well. Everytime I see a bunch of teenagers around, the group is made up of some fat kids and some bony kids. Barely any in the middle. Now that I think about it, adults are like this too. Where is the middle ground???

  • Is this a surprise? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by kestasjk ( 933987 ) * on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:41PM (#17738920) Homepage
    What percentage of people spend more time at work than with their significant other?
    The vast majority.

    What percentage of people who have a PC with broadband at home (the demographic targeted by this study) use a PC at work?
    65% doesn't sound far off.

  • It's all about prioritization (Score:3, Interesting)

    by XxtraLarGe ( 551297 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:43PM (#17738950) Journal
    My wife was getting pretty upset about my gaming time (especially on WoW), so now we came to an agreement. I only spend 1 hour a day on gaming (2 on Sat & Sun), and we've created a date night once a week that I don't even use the computer at all. It's made for a lot smoother relationship, and in reality I've found it much more satisfying than simply just playing games.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by IflyRC ( 956454 )
      Good for you. I recovered from an Everquest addiction by taking up flying R/C airplanes. Now, on the weekends I spend time with friends, outside and doing something more fun than a computer game ever could be.

      It's sad to think back on all of the time wasted for 3+ years sitting in front of the computer on gorgeous weekend days for 12 hours or more.

      Games are fun, but real life is so much better.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by masdog ( 794316 )
      My girlfriend usually gets upset with me for being on my computer, but she doesn't realize that half the time I am on the computer, she's on her computer scanning pictures, doing lesson plans, or scrapbooking. So it's not like I would be spending time with her anyway if I wasn't on my computer.
    • You are obviously playing the wrong games.

      Try moving the mouse slowly to the right, then quickly to the left. And repeat.

      This game is playable on all OS's with pointing device support.

      Have fun.!]#

  • Only 65%!!!? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by revlayle ( 964221 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:44PM (#17738964)
    Either way, I believe it. Personally, I have no idea why I live with other people anymore, less have any actual serious relationships. However, while I use a computer a LOT (over 65% easily... part of the job), even at times when I am not on the PC much, I still have the same attitude, so it may be that I'm just an asshole. :)

  • Color me suprised! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Sax Maniac ( 88550 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:45PM (#17738982) Homepage Journal
    Wow, a study commissioned by support.com says people need support! From a PR newsire, nonetheless. And we're not even people, but "consumers". Come on, if you're going to write fake news reports on fake studies, at give the appearnace of trying by not using marketroid speak.

    Tag this one as "shill".

  • I can't wait (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:46PM (#17739012)
    ...for National Mandatory Sex and Cuddling Day.

    (Verify word was "nearby"? Must be a sign....)
    • BB Proud, Comrade! intercourse wife plusgood. uncuddle daytitle. cuddle doubleplusungood. make Party member plusgood. show at hateweek.

      Seriously though? That would just remind some of us of how much we need a wife.
  • you need to look at what time of year it is. Suring the spring, summer, and fall, you go outside with your SO and do things outside the house. During the winter, you end up with people staying at home. There is only so much you can do at home, so people sit at the computer.

    I bet if they waited until summer and ran this survey again, there would be different results.

  • Grow closer apart. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by w33t ( 978574 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:47PM (#17739024) Homepage
    People spend more time with lots of things than with their SO. I would argue that this can be healthy.

    After all, if you want to get sick of someone there is no better way than spending every waking moment with them.

    I know it's all down to personal preference, but I find that time apart is every bit as important as time together.

    The trick is to balance the two - too much of one or the other is bad, you need just the right amount of together and seperate time.

  • I used to- (Score:5, Insightful)

    by IWantMoreSpamPlease ( 571972 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:48PM (#17739046) Homepage Journal
    spend nearly all my time outside of work on my PC. Then I got a job in the PC world, and then I quit being on it outside of my normal job.

    Then I met a girl, and got married. Since she turned out to be a complete psycho bitch (I should have known...should have known) and now spend all my free time *back* on the PC, and away from her as much as possible.

    • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by dave562 ( 969951 )
      Everybody has to have the psycho bitch experience so that we know what to look out for next time. Just like spending years and years in front of a computer enables you to deal with the most off the wall random errors, spending years and years dealing with women enables you to quickly put their psycho bitch behaviors in check and/or kick their asses to the curb at the appropriate time.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by kabocox ( 199019 )
      spend nearly all my time outside of work on my PC. Then I got a job in the PC world, and then I quit being on it outside of my normal job.
      Then I met a girl, and got married. Since she turned out to be a complete psycho bitch (I should have known...should have known) and now spend all my free time *back* on the PC, and away from her as much as possible.

      Hey, I spend most of my after work time either playing video games or sitting infront of the computer. My wife and parents complain that I'm anti-social becau

  • And They're Probably Less Dependent On (Score:5, Insightful)

    by eldavojohn ( 898314 ) * <eldavojohn@noSpAM.gmail.com> on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:49PM (#17739066) Journal
    In fact, more than 8 out of 10 Americans (84%) say they are more dependent on their home computer now than they were just three years ago.
    Shocking 'facts' aren't they? But they failed to mention that these people who find themselves more dependent on computers probably find themselves less dependent on other things. For instance, transportation. You don't have to go down to the mall and hoof around looking for a CD or even books for that matter. You don't have to go out to rent videos--just use Netflix or Blockbuster. Why are malls becoming predominantly clothing stores? Because you can't try clothes on online. You can do your banking online now and I'm sure the things you can do online instead of driving your vehicle to the office to make the payment are numerous.

    And I'll bet these people are a little less glued to their televisions than they were three years ago. And instead of going to the movies or getting hammered at a bar, they might find an online game to be a bit more entertaining.

    The obvious downside is that I'm sure that some people are probably less active than they were before, but not all of them. If you percieve this to be a growing threat or strain on relationships, market software/hardware that makes the PC experience something shared between two people. I know tons of couples (and families) that have two or more computers and they simply play games like WoW together.

    Honestly, I don't see anything unhealthy with this trend so long as the people excersize or go out walking/running once a week or more.

  • And in pre-information-age societies.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ciaohound ( 118419 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:51PM (#17739096)
    65% spend more time with their plow horse/tractor/butter churn/machine tool/slide rule/whatever than they spend with their spouse. The division of labor has always taken spouses away from each other to some extent. Of the discretionary time that spouses could choose to either be together or apart, well, has that changed significantly?

  • Which could easily explain why I spend more time with a computer than with my SO.

    But, get this: (FTA)

    1. The average consumer has experienced computer troubles eight times - about every four months - over the last three years.
    2. The average American is wasting 12 hours per month - the equivalent of half a weekend - due to problems with their home computer.
    3. A majority of Americans (52%) describe their most recent experience with a computer problem as one of anger, sadness or alienation.

    I

    • And don't get me started on how awful it was setting up a wireless router with Windows XP... I spent $200 worth of my time to configure a $15 piece of hardware.
      It took you three days to configure a wireless router with Wondows XP?!? It should've taken you 15 minutes tops. On a slow day, I get it done in 10...

      • Um, yes, it should have taken me no more than 15 minutes. But something insided me thought, "I wonder what would happen if I used the installation CD..." Well, I found out. I had to go back and fix what the install CD had broken. Come to think of it, I probably could have done it in Linux in about 5 minutes.

        Incidentally, $200 of my time is a lot less than three days. Maybe you should consider asking for a raise...

    • Psssssshhhhaw. That's nothing.

      1. The average husband has experienced wife troubles for an average of three consecutive days - about every month - over the course of his marriage. This is in addition to random outbursts throughout the month.
      2. The average husband is wasting 96 hours per month - the equivalent of every weekend - due to "honey-do" lists.
      3. The majority of husbands (100%) describe their most recent experience with a spousal problem as one of anger, indifference, or confusion.
    • Don't buy cheap-ass $15 wireless routers, for Pete's sakes. You get what you pay for.
  • Hick Child: Dang it, Buck. It's my turn to use the sex box!
    Buck: It's my sex box! And her name is "Sony".

  • One of us. (Score:3, Funny)

    by HTH NE1 ( 675604 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:53PM (#17739136)
    PR Newswire reports that 65 percent of consumers are spending more time with a computer than with their significant other (SO).

    One of us. One of us. One of us. One of us.
  • Just last night the wife made just this objection as I pulled out the Tablet while cooking dinner so I could check email. I shrugged, conceded the point in general, and then she grabbed the damned thing and went into the bedroom to catch up on stuff related to Heroes and Jericho!

  • The reason is simple (Score:5, Funny)

    by Snarfangel ( 203258 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @12:55PM (#17739190) Homepage
    The PC does what you tell it to.
  • You have much more sex when you're with your computer.

  • I have 168 hours in a week. I work in front of a computer 40+ hours a week. I do graduate school online, so add about 20 hours. I sleep 8 hours a night, so subtract 56 hours. That leaves us 52 hours. 1 hour per week is spent in church, with my wife in the choir. She spends all of saturday at the farm with the hourses, so 14 hours spent there. I have a potential 38 hours, minus any time using the restroom. I believe it.

  • ..but can she run Linux?
    • [I'd spend more time with my wife ...] ..but can she run Linux?


      Yes ... you just have to leave her a pre-built hardware platform, install media, detailed instructions, and a contact number for support in case she hits an unforeseen snag.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kelson ( 129150 ) *
      ..but can she run Linux?

      Mine can, but she prefers to run a BSD variant [apple.com].

  • How long until this [youtube.com] is shown in our junior high and high schools?
  • Of course I spend twice as much with computer as with my wife... when I get home she doesn't allow me to stay with it!!!

  • Hmmmm... Significant Other... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Billosaur ( 927319 ) * <wgrotherNO@SPAMoptonline.net> on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @01:05PM (#17739366) Journal

    I seem to remember having one of those... Someone nagged me when I was upgrading our router... but the memory is dim... Anyway, the food miraculously appears and somehow the children get to bed, so I suspect someone is in the house doing these things...

  • This country has over a 50% divorce rate. People don't treat marriages like they used to. That's why there are books like Dr. Laura's last two, The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands, and The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage. Ignoring what people think of Dr. Laura, there are tons of other similar books on the market. Look at the influences most people have for how a good marriage is and you find divorced parents, sitcoms with snotty wives and husbands who act like 12 year olds, and movies and other pop

  • Big Deal (Score:5, Funny)

    by cat_jesus ( 525334 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @01:06PM (#17739372)
    I spend more time with my underwear than I do with my SO and she doesn't seem to mind it. It has the added benefit of keeping my dangly bits from rubbing all over the inside of my pants.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by LoveGoblin ( 972821 )
      It has the added benefit of keeping my dangly bits from rubbing all over the inside of my pants.
      Unfortunately, they also keep your dangly bits from rubbing all over the inside of her pants.
  • Have you seen my SO?!

  • Both? (Score:2)

    by Tom ( 822 )
    What about time spent with both? Mine lives in a different city right now, and we play Guild Wars as a way to have something to do together in addition to mail and phone.

  • Open Mouth, Insert Foot (Score:3, Funny)

    by Paulrothrock ( 685079 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @01:11PM (#17739430) Homepage Journal

    I listen to quite a few podcasts. I listen to them mostly when I'm doing housework. One day, I had just finished the dishes and had about ten minutes left on part one of MacCast's podcaster roundtable, so I sat down on the couch and took a quick break. My wife took that as the signal for "cuddle." Then she asked me "Why do you like listening to your people on your podcasts talk and not me?"

    I said "Because they talk about interesting things."

    • This brings up a very interesting point --

      We're not interested in computers, but rather, we're interested in the people on the other side of the computers.

      "Internet addiction" is "interesting people addiction."
  • So what's the big deal?
  • Shockingly, spending time with my SO means I have to watch Gilmore Girls, Desperate Housewives, CSI, Law and Order, Missing, Monk, House, 2 1/2 Men, and 24. I like some of them and can tolerate most of the others. But Gilmore Girls, that's torture.

    I tried to time the pauses between conversations on Gilmore Girls and couldn't find a stopwatch that could record time in that small of increments.

    I do spend time with her on the couch with the Powerbook. I have earphones plugged in and have watched Office Space,
  • I know married couples who both play World of Warcraft. For them, time on WoW *is* time with their SO.

    While my wife and I don't share any online games, our computers are in the same room. If both of us are on the computer, we're still talking to each other.

  • Work time counts? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by microTodd ( 240390 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @01:33PM (#17739826) Homepage Journal
    Sure. In a 168-hour week, I spend 56 hours sleeping, 50 hours at work on a PC, 8 hours at home on a PC, and maybe 36 hours quality time with my SO (4 hours per day during week, 8 hours per day on weekends).

    Does this mean I'm "ignoring" her for my PC? No, it means that I work.

    Back in the 1800s men on the farm probably spent more time with their horses than their wives...hmmm, that didn't sound so good...

  • Another B.S. Study (Score:5, Insightful)

    by __aagmrb7289 ( 652113 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @01:37PM (#17739894) Journal
    After doing the RTFA stuff, I noticed something, umm, interesting? It doesn't bother to distinguish between using the computer at home, and using the computer at work. Considering the fact that MOST people spend more of their time WORKING then being AT HOME, 65% seems rather low now, doesn't it? I mean, is it REALLY true that 35% of Americans don't have to deal with a computer, constantly, at work? Good for them! Stupid B.S. sensationalist studies give scientific studies a bad name.
  • Geez, you say that like it is a BAD thing.

  • My girlfriend and I, both huge computer nerds, just moved into a new apartment. We put our computers side-by-side on a big table right in front of our huge living room window overlooking the city. We geek it up with our single player games but we're always poking eachother to come look at something cool in our games. It's quite romantic, actually.
  • On the face of it, it's true for me. I'm with my laptop probably 14 hours a day on a workday, give or take, and with my wife for maybe 4 waking hours on a workday. But I'm not sure that tells the whole tale. First, obviously, when I'm at work, I'm with the laptop, not the wife...but that's hardly a choice. Second, in the evenings, I'm usually sitting in the living room with the laptop on my lap while my wife sits in the same living room with her Powerbook on her lap. What does that count as?

    On the week
  • Are we counting waking hours only?

    I work for 8 hours a day (if I'm lucky - 9-10 is probably the more common case). Since I work in IT, close to all of that time is spent on a computer. Often, several.

    If I get home around 5:30, then I have another five to seven hours before I'm likely to go to sleep. If I don't bother to check Slashdot, my personal e-mail, or my friends' blogs, or post-process any photos I've taken, or play any games, or chat up any friends online, that still leaves less total time to be wit
  • Ok, the article titles around 65% figure, which is what I'm interested in. 65% of what? Of people with a SO and a decent comp? Of all Americans? A more population?

    RTFA, and it's got absolutely nothing to do with the 65% figure, except for one little aside stating that people sometimes spend more time with the computer than their spouse - used to promote their support services.

    I may not be able to officially mod the OP, but consider this a lengthy (-1 Tool) towards Ant.

    As to discussion on the 65% figure,

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