You may well have heard about Ofcom’s latest report on the state of media consumption in the UK – after all, the report tells us that we spend half our waking hours watching TV, listening to the radio or surfing the internet. You probably came across the news on one of those media.
Alternatively, you may have heard about it on more than one media simultaneously – perhaps it was on the radio while you were making breakfast with the TV news on in the background.
Because Ofcom’s report into our media habits found that we’re increasingly multi-tasking when it comes to radio, TV and the internet. More and more of us are surfing the internet while we’re watching TV, or listening to the radio at the same time as emailing our friends or checking in on Facebook. We’re trying to squeeze more media time into the limited free hours we have each day.
This is an interesting trend and it’s a sign of two things.
First of all we’re getting more comfortable splitting our attention between two different sources. Huge numbers of us are now happy to have Twitter open in front of big TV shows like Eastenders or X Factor, so we can see what others are making of the programmes in real time. Multi-tasking is a sign of our maturity and experience as media consumers.
Second, it’s a symptom of better and more flexible technology. Mobile internet devices have become part of our everyday lives in the past few years. Digital TV and radio have lead to an explosion in choice. We can increasingly take these technologies with us wherever we go, and multi-tasking follows naturally from that sense of ‘universality’.
Of course we mustn’t get carried away with all of this talk of media dominating our lives.
The report also reveals that 71% of people have access to broadband at home – clear evidence that’s there a long way to go before everyone in Britain is benefiting from the digital revolution, and one reason why we’re so enthusiastic in our support of Race Online 2012.
But the good news is that internet take-up is increasing very fast amongst older age groups. Usage among people aged 55-64 grew by 6% in the past year, and among 65-74 year olds by 7%, compared to an overall increase of 3%.
Ofcom’s report covers the media industry in great depth and there are plenty of nuggets of information buried throughout – it’s fascinating to flick through some of the findings, which you can do here.
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