Categories: Articles

We're All Here For The Same Reason: To Kill Time

Do you go online for business? To do research? To buy stuff? To influence others? According to a recent news item in eMarketer, we all go online to do one thing: pass time.

As we all sit and pontificate on the power of new media and how the Internet is such a distinct and different media, it turns out that all of us (that would be 100% of the people questioned in a Ruder Finn survey in Q2 2009) went online to pass the time. Every single one of them. Imagine that. One hundred percent of the people asked in that survey treat the Internet the same way they treat TV: as a way to kill time. The news item, Why People Go Online, published yesterday in eMarketer goes on to state:

"Men were more likely than women to go online for business, entertainment and to keep informed on news and current events. Women, in turn, were more likely to use the Internet to advocate for a cause or issue, express themselves and socialize. More than two-thirds (69%) of young adults ages 18 to 29 posted comments on social networking sites, 55% played games and 50% went online ‘specifically to rage against a person or organization.’ Seniors were nearly twice as likely as young people to manage their finances, and 65% of seniors went online to be part of a community."

So, while all of us use the Internet to kill time, it does (thankfully) go a lot deeper than that.

All of the online activities were divided into six categories and are listed below in overall popularity:

Learn
Have fun
Socialize
Express oneself
Advocate
Do business
Shop

The Internet is still a new media with new platforms and activities being introduced daily. It will be interesting to see how this list morphs and changes in the next 5-10 years.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.