Time Wasted on the Internet

Why do People Waste So Much Time on the Internet?
I attempted to answer this question through simple data collection and attempted analysis. I did this by;

• Collecting data from 52 respondents I found at Loyola
• Asking follow up questions and gaining testimonies from responders
• Analysis of this data and why it's significant

General Hypothesis

• I believe that through my research and data collection and my general analysis of these statistics I will find a concrete reason why people and especially college students waste so much time online.

Reasons for Investigation/Analysis

• My Digital Life Project and the information I found about myself
• Interest in understanding more about students at Loyola and their media use
•  What the general reason is for so much time being wasted on the internet

Initial Research/Data

Time Spent on the Internet Avg. 2.07 hours each

Reasons for Wasting Time

Continued Research and Attempted Analysis

Attempt to find more reason into why people waste time online

• My research found that other people, like myself especially wasted time online cause they had little else to do and find the internet for a source of leisure/entertainment and this is shown in my testimonies I collected. 
• Finding connections to many topics we've discussed in class and with the increases in technology and new media including; The annihilation of time, Uses of medium and gaining a message, and the use of media for expression and specific reason. 
• Only rationalization I found in both my data from my 52 subjects, and my own experience is that with all this new media we waste time simply because of it's appeal and the addiction we've created. 

Testimonies/Subject's Quotes

"Media is there for many specific reasons and I think misusing time is one of them, there's simply too much stuff on the internet for connected people and most specifically college students not to use it constantly and probably for the wrong reason here and there." 

"Leisure and entertainment are obviously not the most productive things in the world for us, but at a certain point I feel like at least in my experience there's nothing better I could be doing." 

"There's a reason we're always on our laptops or our iPhones, we're consuming internet and media all the time and we can't be productive for all of that time."

Conclusions/Final Findings

• The internet and the new media we use all the time has many general purposes and uses and wasting time is one of the major ones. 
• Only 2 respondents believed they spent under 1 hour a day 'wasting time' which shows the prevalence and the extent to which this activity occurs. 
• Wasting time on the internet is something that almost everyone takes part in and has no plans in stopping, entertainment has become a major sector of the internet and the media we consume.