High income brings to less TV, more time spent online

While the amount of time people spend online increased steadily over the past few years, the time spent with TV fell in 2002 to 11.2 hours a week from 12.3 hours a week in 2001. The TV viewing time increased to 11.6 hours in 2003. Those with household incomes below $25,000 annually spent 318.7 minutes in front of the TV, and just 30.3 minutes online. Professionals and managers spent just 199.8 minutes watching TV and 101.1 minutes on the Internet, largely due to work usage. A greater percentage of the Internet households surveyed by the Digital Future Project indicated that they spent less time watching TV in 2003 than in 2002. Nearly 38% said they spent less time watching television in 2003, compared to 31% in 2002, and 33% in 2001. The greatest impact on television viewing was seen among veteran users with 7+ years online, with 45.5% saying they watched less since they started using the Internet. In 2001, just 35% said the Internet caused them to watch less TV. That swelled to 38% in 2002.