• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, May 12, 2005

According to the American Time Use Survey, the government's first comprehensive time study, analyzed by American Demographics, average Americans spend 11% of their life in front of a TV screen, 35% sleeping, and 33% at work. The article concludes that TV plays a commanding role in the consumer's life, with half of their leisure time spent there!

Based on interviews with about 21,000 people age 15 and older, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data goes on to show that:

• Working mothers with young children have only about three hours of leisure time a day.
• Teens ages 15 to 19 sleep an average 9.4 hours a day, beating the 75+ segment by more than 20 minutes a day.
• Teenagers spend only seven minutes a day reading paper-based personal interest materials.
• The 75+ group has the most hours of leisure time at eight, and read for 72 minutes a day for personal interest.
• College-educated workers spend 6% of their hours a day watching TV, while consumers with a high-school diploma but no job spend 17%.
• Teens are active 40 minutes a day with physical activity; people from age 35 on spend 15 minutes or less; consumers with bachelor's degrees or higher tend to do more.

Read the complete article and find reprints.