Internet eyeballs

Reading New York Magazine in the bath tonight, came across one of Emily Nussbaum's as-usual genius article, Class of '09. Essentially a survey of a generation of young Americans - the equivalent of which here in the UK have, in the past, been branded binge drinkers, laddettes, graduate divas, Generation Y  (as if they're like some scientific experimentation), internet narcassists and disillusionhed. The results make interesting reading. They are optimistic about the future, engaged in politics, concerned about riding out the credit crunch but ultimately think it's going to make the world a better place, they earn on average £25,000-£30,000 and 72% want to get married. But the most telling part to me was the 'Keeping Contact' section. 44% of them check their email instantly on their phones. 89% have a facebook page. 39% of them watch TV on the computer - only 35% watch it live. And half of them read a newspaper daily - though, it doesn't specify whether that's online or in print. That means our eyes are basically pretty permanently focussed on our computers. But perhaps I should have known that by the fact that the first thing I do when I come home from work - where I've been pretty much staring at a computer screen on and off in between meetings all day. That I check my BlackBerry after I've cleaned my teeth and before I go to bed. And that I'm writing this at 22.26 on a Friday night! If I'm in the house alone, I can't resist logging on. Exciting for the future online. But a worrying development for everything else in modern media? Certainly, I would say.