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Time On Social Networks Almost Doubles In a Year

Posted by timothy on from the insidious-time-sinks dept.

GWMAW! writes "Spending more time on social networks and blogs? You're not alone, with the latest figures showing the number of minutes spent on social networking sites in the United States has almost doubled over the past year."

14 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm by snowraver1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    0*2=0

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  2. Unemployment? by Altus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Could this correlate to an increase in unemployment? I know when I was unemployed I spent a lot more time on the internet in general. Not so much on social networking sites, but they weren't nearly as popular back then.

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    1. Re:Unemployment? by Altus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Personally I hate the fact that I need a facebook account to keep up wiht friends I live within a few miles of.

      One of my friends recently got engaged. Ive known this guy for 15+ years. We have always been close, we traveled to Europe together. He is part of a tight knit group of friends who have known each other since high school. I see him fairly regularly, once ever couple of weeks at least.

      How did he inform his 5-10 oldest friends that he had chosen to take a major step in his life. Did he call them, did he put together a small email detailing how he proposed and so forth? No... he updated his fucking facebook relationship status.

      You have got to be fucking kidding me.

      I mean sure, that's a reasonable way for your freshman year roommate who you haven't seen in person for 5 years to find out that you are engaged, but your close friends, you cant even put together a couple of sentences and send out an email?

      I get the appeal of these sites, I do. Its a great way to maintain minimal contact with people you wouldn't usually see or keep track of. To keep a tenuous thread of communication open where it otherwise would have failed. The problem is, it doesn't stop there. It encourages all communication to go through this source and people start thinking of their friends as names on a screen rather than people they see.

      Sure, you don't have to be a punk like he was... but the existence and use of these sites certainly encourages people to do just that.

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      "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

    2. Re:Unemployment? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

      Yeah, really. That's what Twitter is for. Then you update your Facebook Relationship status.

    3. Re:Unemployment? by SWolf1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      A little over a year ago my now ex-girlfriend broke up with me. In her break-up letter did she talk about heartfelt feelings or wonderful memories? No, she talked about how she didn't want to unfriend me on facebook, but was going to limit my viewing priveleges. It was then I realized how lucky I was she dumped me.

  3. Well.... by Darkness404 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well within the last year its become acceptable for everyone to have a Facebook, from Jr. High kids up to grandparents. Even last year Facebook was seen as only really used by high school and college kids. Now almost everyone, from my boss, coworkers and even my grandparents have a Facebook. Also, the popularity of code and host it yourself websites have been largely replaced with blogs so that would increase that popularity.

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  4. Alternate title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Time Wasted on the Internet Almost Doubles In a Year

  5. Thank you iPhone app. by xpuppykickerx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I didn't really spend a lot of time on Facebook until I purchased an iPhone. Now with the app for that and Twitter, I find myself spending more time on these sites than normally due to accessibility. Kinda common sense comes into play here.

  6. In the Last Year... by gubers33 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Facebook has been increasingly gaining users from the ages of 30+ for both social networking with work as well as personal. Just a year ago most of these users did not even think about joining facebook. I mean lets remember, it was just a few years ago that Facebook was reserved for those with an .edu email address.

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  7. How is this affecting the entertainment industry? by serutan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wonder if other activities have lost corresponding market share -- like television watching, reading, hobbies... This could have an impact on tv advertising revenue. Some of the RIAA's losses could probably even be attributed to people not having as much time to go to record stores. Maybe they'll sue MySpace and Facebook for "theft of audience."

  8. Depressing by wisesifu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have never seen a more depressing statistic. I still don't use these sites and see them mostly as a waste of time. I can understand why they are popular, but with all the privacy issues I really don't understand why you would want to risk so much of your identity/information.

  9. Is Slashdot considered a Social Network? by starglider29a · · Score: 3, Funny

    Social!? It's barely civil!

  10. So it's slowing way down then? by goombah99 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Since 1961 time on social networks has increased infinity fold every year. Yet in the last year it's slowed down to just doubling. Guess the party is over.

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  11. Does /. count? by TeknoHog · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or is this more like an antisocial network?

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