Of course, Americans are swamped every minute of the day by this or that new technology, in this new era of media fragmentation in which diversions seem limitless: the internet, computer games, iPods, endless TV channels, and of course cell phones that do everything but tap dance.
Oh, and did we leave out reading? Yes, and we should not have.
As it turns out, for all these different toys, these wonderful new technologies, reading tops the list of things Americans would most rather do, given the choice, and by a large margin.
Not only that, reading is higher on that list than ever. Watching TV is No. 2, but a more distant No. 2. Reading is slightly more popular today than it was back in 1995.
“It is easy escapism, be it a book, the latest car magazine or a comic,” says Regina Corso, director of the Harris Poll, which conducted the poll by phone in October. Harris asked 1,052 adults to name their favorite two or three leisure activities. The responses were spontaneous and unaided. That is, they did not choose from a list but were called to identify them cold, so to speak.
This was the 10th time Harris did the poll--the first was in 1995. Huge amounts of new technologies have emerged in that time, but reading has remained a consistent choice.
Back in 1995, it was actually close, with reading just nosing out TV watching, 28 percent to 25 percent. Now look what 12 years does. This time around, reading got 29 percent, while TV sunk to just 18 percent.
Meanwhile, rounding out the top five were: spending time with family and kids, which rose from 12 percent in 1995 to 14 percent in 2007; computer activities, which rose from 2 percent to 9 percent; and going to the movies, down from 8 percent to 7 percent.
Interestingly, for all the concern over health these days, interest in swimming, team sports and walking has fallen in popularity since 1995, or stayed flat. Only two fitness activities rose, working out at the gym and dancing.
Why is reading so high?
There are a few things going on here, says Corso. For one thing, reading is a broad category encompassing all kinds of printed material, so that means things like magazines, newspapers, comics and books. (It doesn’t, however, include reading on the internet.)
Reading is seen as a wonderful form of escapism, perhaps even more so now in our buzzing electronic world, as a chance to get away from all the buzzing.
If anything, it looks like these new technologies have come at the expense of TV. Consumers are swapping out TV time for the internet and perhaps other forms of electronic amusement, which raises a whole slew of interesting issues, as you think about it. The total time we spend with media has steadily increased with all these new media forms but the Harris finding suggests there may be a limited amount of time we can stand sitting in front of an electronic box, whatever it may be.
But here are some caveats to consider regarding these findings.
First is that respondents to polls often tell pollsters what they think they want to hear. It sounds better to say that you'd rather be reading a book than, say, spending an afternoon out at the track playing the ponies.
The other caveat is that the poll asks folks not what they actually do but what they would like to do. “A respondent could be thinking, if I had the leisure time, that’s what I would do more of,” says Corso.
In that sense, it's aspirational. And as we know, people are forever talking about how they don't have enough time in life to do the things they'd like. Asking people what they'd do if they had time to spare is somewhat akin to asking people what they'd do if they had a million dollars.
But all that said, there's no disputing that people hold reading in high regard.
“This may be a wonderful opportunity for publishers and magazine to tap into that. If this many people say this is one of their favorite leisure activities, they could market (these activities) differently,” says Corso. “The worry is that if they don’t tap into that, then I can see the numbers for computer and TV going up more.”
Meanwhile, elsewhere in popcult, the new release “Beowulf” topped the box office over the weekend, bringing in $28.1 million and pushing “Bee Movie” down to No. 2.
In DVD rentals for the week ended Nov. 11, according to IMDb.com, the Kevin James and Adam Sandler comedy “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” was No. 1, with “Spider-Man 3” dropping to No. 2.
On iTunes this morning, Flo Rida’s “Low” was No. 1 for the second straight week, with Alicia Keys’ “No One” moving up to No. 2.
And in books, the new David Baldacci novel “Stone Cold” debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times’ hardcover fiction best-sellers list for the week ended Nov. 10, as well as No. 2 on USA Today’s chart for the week ended Nov. 11.
|
TOP MOVIES
Weekend Box Office Estimates
Weekend of November 16-18, 2007
|
|
Rank
|
MOVIE
|
Engagements
|
Box office (millions)
|
|
1
|
Beowulf (Warner Bros.)
|
3,153
|
$28.10
|
|
2
|
Bee Movie (
Paramount)
|
3,984
|
$14.30
|
|
3
|
American Gangster (Universal)
|
3,110
|
$13.22
|
|
4
|
Fred Claus (Warner Bros.)
|
3,603
|
$12.00
|
|
5
|
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (Fox Walden)
|
3,164
|
$10.03
|
|
6
|
Dan in Real Life (
Buena Vista)
|
1,901
|
$4.51
|
|
7
|
No Country for Old Men (
Paramount)
|
148
|
$3.10
|
|
8
|
Lions for Lambs (MGM)
|
2,216
|
$2.90
|
|
9
|
Saw IV (Lionsgate)
|
2,097
|
$2.33
|
|
10
|
Love in the Time of Cholera (New Line)
|
852
|
$1.92
|
|
Source: Yahoo Movies
|
|
IMDb TOP DVD RENTALS
Week ending November 11, 2007
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
|
1
|
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
|
-
|
|
2
|
Spider-Man 3
|
1
|
|
3
|
Ratatouille
|
-
|
|
4
|
Deck the Halls
|
-
|
|
5
|
Transformers
|
2
|
|
6
|
Sicko
|
-
|
|
7
|
Mr. Brooks
|
3
|
|
8
|
Meet the Robinsons
|
4
|
|
9
|
License to Wed
|
5
|
|
10
|
El Cantante
|
8
|
|
Source: IMDB
|
|
ITUNES TOP 8 SONG DOWNLOADS
for week ended Monday, November 19, 2007
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
|
1
|
Low, Flo Rida feat. T-Pain
|
|
2
|
No One, Alicia Keys
|
|
3
|
Apologize, Timbaland
|
|
4
|
Kiss Kiss, Chris Brown feat. T-Pain
|
|
5
|
Bubbly, Colbie Caillat
|
|
6
|
Clumsy, Fergie
|
|
7
|
No One, Alicia Keys
|
|
8
|
Crank That, Soulja Boy
|
|
Source: iTunes
|
|
NEW YORK
TIMES BESTSELLING BOOKS
Week ending November 10, 2007
|
|
Fiction (hardback)
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
Weeks on chart
|
|
1
|
Stone Cold
by David Baldacci
|
-
|
1
|
|
2
|
Creation in Death
by J. D. Robb
|
-
|
1
|
|
3
|
The Chase
by Clive Cussler
|
-
|
1
|
|
4
|
Protect and Defend
by Vince Flynn
|
1
|
2
|
|
5
|
Rhett Butler’s People
by Donald McCaig
|
-
|
1
|
|
Nonfiction (hardback)
|
|
1
|
I Am America (And So Can You) by Stephen Colbert
|
1
|
5
|
|
2
|
Boom!
by Tom Brokaw
|
-
|
1
|
|
3
|
Rescuing Sprite
by Mark R. Levin
|
-
|
1
|
|
4
|
Clapton by Eric Clapton
|
2
|
5
|
|
5
|
The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan
|
3
|
8
|
|
Fiction (paperback)
|
|
1
|
The Bancroft Strategy
by Robert Ludlum
|
-
|
2
|
|
2
|
Cross by James Patterson
|
3
|
7
|
|
3
|
Treasure of Kahn
by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler
|
-
|
2
|
|
4
|
Wife for Hire
by Janet Evanovich
|
2
|
2
|
|
5
|
Wild Fire
by Nelson DeMille
|
-
|
2
|
|
Nonfiction (paperback)
|
|
1
|
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
|
1
|
42
|
|
2
|
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
|
2
|
129
|
|
3
|
Three Cups of Tea
by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
|
3
|
41
|
|
4
|
90 Minutes in Heaven
by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey
|
4
|
55
|
|
5
|
The
Glass
Castle by Jeannette Walls
|
5
|
96
|
|
Source: New York Times
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
USA
TODAY BESTSELLING BOOKS
Week ending November 11, 2007
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
|
1
|
You: Staying Young by Michael F. Roizen, Mehmet C. Oz
|
1
|
|
2
|
Stone Cold
by David Baldacci
|
-
|
|
3
|
Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld
|
9
|
|
4
|
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
|
2
|
|
5
|
Creation in Death
by J. D. Robb
|
-
|
|
6
|
Become a Better You by Joel Osteen
|
5
|
|
7
|
I Am America (And So Can You) by Stephen Colbert
|
8
|
|
8
|
Love In the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
|
14
|
|
9
|
Rhett Butler’s People
by Donald McCaig
|
-
|
|
10
|
Book of the Dead
by Patricia Cornwell
|
4
|
|
Source:
USA Today
|
