The Internet in our daily lives

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With the commercial introduction of Web browsers in the early 90s, the Internet became a social phenomenon that has changed the lives of many users. Today, people use the Internet for email, instant messaging, e-commerce, web-based research, videoconferencing, online dating and blogging, among other things. Most of these activities are interactive and much different from the largely passive radio, television and print media. Users can tailor their Internet experience to suit their needs and even publish their own content. Never before has this freedom and scope of interaction been available, and there is no question that people - and the way in which they interact - have been changed by the use of the Internet. The question is how have they been changed?

Depending on the extent and nature of use, the Internet has the potential to change the way people spend their time, how they live their lives and even how they perceive their own health, happiness and stress. Even non-users can be affected, as the information society is all around them. Whether or not these changes represent an improvement over life before the Internet is an important question, but not one that can be easily answered.

The aim of this study is to better understand how the Internet has changed daily life for Canadians and to explore the impacts associated with these changes. In particular, it describes how Internet users differ from non-users in terms of their socio-demographic characteristics, as well as their work, domestic and personal lifestyles. The study is based on data from the 2005 General Social Survey (GSS) on time use which captures respondent activities over a 24-hour period.

Using a variety of analytical approaches, the study finds that the majority of those who used the Internet for more than an hour during the diary day were young and male. They also spent significantly less time working, sleeping, relaxing and resting. In addition, Internet users spent significantly less time socializing, with heavy users spending about 2 hours more time alone during the day than non-users. Despite this finding, Internet users did interact with others in different ways, and enjoyed participating in clubs, organizations and social events more than non-users. The study also reveals that although the Internet potentially competes with traditional sources of information and entertainment, Internet users were in fact avid consumers of television and print media.

The next section reviews existing research on the relationships between Internet and time use patterns, and their potential social impacts. Section three provides a general overview of time use patterns based on the diary day data, followed by more detailed analyses for selected activities, behaviours and attitudes.