Fewer Canadians are regularly watching TV today but those who do haven’t curtailed their viewing.
Statistics Canada reports that the proportion of Canadians who said they watched television dropped from 77 per cent to 73 per cent between 1998 and 2010.
Those who did watch TV averaged about two hours and 52 minutes of viewing time a day, which StatsCan says hasn’t really changed since 1998.
The number of Canadians who said they used a computer in their free time at home spiked since 1998, going from just five per cent to 24 per cent.
Those computer users averaged about an hour and 23 minutes of usage a day.
Video game use is also up, with three per cent of Canadians playing in 1998 and six per cent in 2010.
Gamers back then were spending an hour and 48 minutes playing each day, while the average was two hours and 20 minutes in 2010.
The figures are based on Statistics Canada’s 2010 General Social Survey, which collected the daily habits of nearly 15,400 Canadians aged 15 and over in the 10 provinces.
