Digital habits on the rise: survey

MONTREAL—Checking e-mail under the covers or between bites of food?
It may seem a bit extreme, but a survey by search engine Yahoo found that it’s a digital habit.

The recent survey found that just 27 percent of Canadians ban using the Internet at meal times and while they’re in bed.
Americans are even more lax about Internet use in bed, with only 19 percent saying they impose a ban, while 22 percent responded they ban its use at meal times, said Heather Cabot, Yahoo’s Web Life editor.
“It seems like Canadians have more boundaries and seem to be a little bit more concerned about separating their online and off-line time, and making sure they reserve time for both,” Cabot noted.
She admits to going online under the covers with her iPhone either to check e-mail or to read news.
Coffee isn’t always the first thing people reach for in the morning, either. The survey found that 33 percent of Canadians check their e-mail as soon as they wake up while 41 percent of Americans check it first thing, Cabot said.
And Cabot said people are more connected than they were 15 years ago.
“I think in many ways it has brought us closer together,” she said of Internet use.
She noted how people can stay in touch with family and friends with e-mail, instant messaging, photos, and video as events are unfolding.
Yahoo surveyed 1,510 online Canadians between the ages of 25 and 64 in May to find out how the Internet has changed the lives of consumers since the search engine was launched in 1995.
Yahoo did a similar study of online Americans and their Internet use.
However, Internet use may be shifting our perception of time and its boundaries.
“Sometimes people will send a work e-mail on Sunday and you would never call someone at home on a Sunday, yet people do that,” Cabot said.
“I think there’s a perception that people are wired all of the time.”
Some companies are now telling employees they don’t have to answer e-mails on the weekend unless it’s an emergency, she noted.
The temptation to respond right away to an e-mail is there, though.
“Because it’s so immediate, we feel we have to respond immediately,” reasoned Cabot, who is based in New York.
The survey found that 81 percent of Canadians surveyed go online with their computers or laptops several times a day.
Does all of the online time actually save time?
Cabot said it depends what people are doing, citing paying bills, doing shopping, and product research as time-savers.
“It’s very easy to lose hours where you are just going from site to site to site, particularly with social media. It can be very addicting,” she warned.
People need to talk about when Internet use starts to impact real-life relationships and responsibilities, she said.
Technology analyst Carmi Levy agreed it’s tough to say whether the Internet either saves or wastes time.
“Whether one or the other is true for each of us largely depends on the individual decisions we make every time we turn on our computers or reach for our smartphones,” said Levy, an independent analyst based in London, Ont.
While the Internet helps make activities like banking more efficient, he agreed it can lead to excesses.
“It has also opened up more opportunities to fritter away time on less-than-productive things and disconnect from the people who matter most,” he remarked.
And for all those who can’t stop checking e-mail no matter what they are doing, it’s still the top way to communicate.
The survey found 59 percent of Canadians rely on it, with instant messaging at 44 percent.