UK OK Computer

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3632268.stm' target='_blank'>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3632268.stm</a><br /><br /></div>The BBC has a story about a British Computer Society survey, which concludes that computers have become a normal part of everyday life for most Brits. The survey found that 75% of adults have used a computer at some stage in their lives, which seems about right from my experience. However, calling the UK a 'nation of computer buffs' seems to be going little far perhaps:<br /><br /><i>"Most people use the machines to surf the internet, send e-mails or for a spot of word processing. Another popular activity was playing online games. But this does not mean that the UK had turned into a nation of computer addicts. Only a third of those questioned use their PC for more than five hours a week, with an average figure of 10 hours a week. However, the report also flagged up that more than half still saw computer technology as far too complicated and felt they were being left behind by the latest advances."</i> <br /><br />It's interesting that 26% reported having no access at all to a computer. Initially I thought this showed that computers were widely available, but thinking about it, surely folks have access to computers in their local libraries? I.e. that figure seems quite high really. An average figure of 10 hours of PC use a week seems rather interesting, as I personally usually do around 60 hours a week in front of a computer. And that's not counting time with the Pocket PC! I bet PPCT readers are bringing the UK average up by quite a margin. :wink: So how many hours a week do you spend in front of a computer and using a Pocket PC?

[Pat Logsdon]

I spend quite a few hours in front of screens. When I wake up in the morning, I check my PPC for upcoming appointments/meetings, then use it for real-time traffic info on the drive to work. At work, I stare at a flat screen all day, and read e-books on my PPC on breaks. After work, I use my laptop at Starbucks to make any PPCT posts I haven't had time to make during the day, and I also catch up on newsgroup posts at that time as well. If I finish all of that, I read e-books or watch movies on my PPC until my coffee is finished.

As soon as I get home, I check my email on my desktop, read some news (BBC, CNN, Salon, etc.), and maybe play a game or two or download some music. Then it's time for food, doing things around the house, etc. One last check of e-mail and news before I go to bed, and start the whole thing over again the next day. :)

All told, I probably spend about 90 hours a week looking at screens of one type or another. 8O

[dmr54]

Have to agree, PPC first thing to grab email and check todo/calendar, drive to work, infront of laptop/desktop/servers all day, with PPC ebook reading at lunch, home then laptop for most of the evening, and then PPC for final email check and ebook before going to sleep.

So I guess all in all 70 hours upwards for me.

[PR.]

Wake up at 8am do a Exchange Server Sync for my home email then do another when I'm done repeat for my work email on my iPAQ (15min)

Get to work and IT Admin for the working day read some websites during lunch, go to the loo ocasionally and listen to music on my iPAQ :D (8hours)

Go home and check my email and websites then play a few games and then some more games (6hours)

Go to bed and check my Home and Work email once more, read some PPC formatted websites, then sleep (20min)

14hrs 35mins a day so thats 72.6hrs a working week plus 10hrs a day in the weekend so thats 92.6hrs every 7 days :lol:

[KAMware]

I think the question for me is when am I not using a computer!

I get up grab my PPC beside the bed (late night reading) take it down and put it in the charger turn on my Inet communication computer, my main development computer, my SourceSafe server and possible one or more of the other 12 computers I have on my network depending on what I am working on that day. After spending the entire work day in front of a computer, possibly including lunch, I leave at least the main three on until I go to bed.

I then take my PPC to bed to do some reading, starting the whole cycle over again.

EM burns to the brain! :mrgreen:

[Ward]

TV is terrible of late.

SO I'm using a PC/Laptop/PPC pretty much all the time. I watch DVDs on the laptop as well as general surfing. I use the desktop to do all the mundane tasks - CD burning, FTP serving, downloading, p2p, printing, games, video encoding, etc.

The PPC gets used to hold ebooks, pictures, games, mp3 and personal data (agenda, contacts, todo). The PPC is always with me, whilst the laptop moves about the house and to friends/family and the desktop is fixed.

[Jonathon Watkins]

TV is terrible of late.

Welcome Ward. Which country's TV would that be? UK TV certainly isn't up to much at the moment. I dually watch an average of two hours a week. Like you, most of my leisure time is taken with PCs and PPCs.

SO I'm using a PC/Laptop/PPC pretty much all the time. I watch DVDs on the laptop as well as general surfing. I use the desktop to do all the mundane tasks - CD burning, FTP serving, downloading, p2p, printing, games, video encoding, etc.

The PPC gets used to hold ebooks, pictures, games, mp3 and personal data (agenda, contacts, todo). The PPC is always with me, whilst the laptop moves about the house and to friends/family and the desktop is fixed.

Sounds like a good setup. Now all we need is TV across broadband and we're set. :wink:

[Andy Roberts]

Well I would simply enjoy a day without computers and MS mobile gear....Why you wonder?

Everyday I carry a Psion Netbook Pro, SPVE200, HP IPAQ 2210 and a Dell latitude lappy just so I can do my job when traveling on the trains back and forth from work......It gets so messy trying to keep an eye on what charge on what device I have let and carrying the chargers require its own bag!

Bring back snail mail and pen and paper and say hello heathly eyes!!

[Ryan Joseph]

Bring back snail mail and pen and paper and say hello heathly eyes!!

Away from me, Satan! :D

I couldn't live without my computers. I rely on them completely. When I'm somewhere without an Internet connection, I feel cut off and alone.

If there were ever a nuclear war that took us back to the stone age, I'd probably jump off a cliff somewhere. 8)

Anyway, I use computers almost hourly. I wake up, check my email and PPCT, then go to work where I write reports, press releases, print digital photos, design brochures, etc. When I'm at school, I use my PPC on the wireless network and when I'm at home I'm either surfing or editing video, or writing, or something.

I totally agree with kam...how much time do I NOT spend in front of a computer? :mrgreen:

[Gerard]

Not being an IT dude, but rather a doublebass (for the most part) luthier, I have few real excuses for spending much time in front of a PC. Perhaps 2 hours per week using my ancient notebook, my only full-scale PC ever, for unpacking PPC install files, encoding MP3 or ASF files, and the odd bit of image editing. The other 35 hours or so of computer time per week are spent with the Dell X5 or the older iPAQ 3835, with perhaps half an hour per week keeping the old Casio EG-800 happy for my stepdaughter as that's cranky both mechanically and in software.

Email first thing when the Axim wakes me up, following up on whatever forum updates arrive and answering the odd letter from clients. News and forum browsing while I have coffee, or more often while I don't have coffee. Through most of the day the PPC sits in the cradle connected via wi-fi, where it used to keep my phone line tied up most of the time. I have a fibre-optic line connecting that to my Targus folding keyboard's Ir port, so it's effectively a little notebook PPC on my chaotic desk:
http://www.luthier.ca/other/forum/dell_on_desk.jpg
Throughout the work day I hear little pings as nPOPw notifies me of new email, and when there have been enough of those I stop making dust and go do a spam harvest or whatever. Sometimes I shoot still or video images of work in progress for showing clients what's been happening to their most prized possessions, using the iPAQ and an HP CF camera. Mostly though the PPCs provide entertainment, something to do which isn't work. Puzzling over buggy software and following the latest developments in PPC tech is a nice break from staring at old wooden things. Having my contacts list with client notes and a spreadsheet with particulars on all their instrument adjustments always available is nice too, saving me from having to remember too much. I forget whole people all the time, so the PPC is a life-saver there.

In the evening I try to catch up on longer personal email, writing up the odd appraisal, reading ebooks, testing new programs, and of course the inevitable spam deletion cycles which just never end. Considering that I don't have a computing job, 35 hours per week seems like excess... but it's not as bad as what it was a few years ago, when I'd spend probably 50 or more while learning all about how these things work and writing out all my forum contributions longhand, before getting my first keyboard.

[TwoWolves]

Personally I spend a great deal more time in front of a computer than the BBC suggest, at least
50 hours a week for work and another 10-20 at home. I agree that a significant factor is how bad
(UK) T.V. has become. Can't agree with the premise that we are a nation of computer buffs as I
am constantly helping friends and family with their computer problems. Most of the country is
clueless but I do agree that they are far to complicated for the average Joe/Jane and not reliable
enough. Love my PPC though (guess that's why I read this site).

[bjornkeizers]

I've never added up all the time I spend behind a PC of sorts. It'd probably put me firmly into the addicted category :D

Let's see... average day... I spend about two hours reading on my PPC. I surf the net for about.... say, 3 hours a day when I'm not working, and I'm always on when I'm at work (I study journalism, which means you have to be at a PC at all times pretty much) so that's another 4 hours each day. Then at night, I might play a game or listen to internet radio streams on my Clie... add another hour or so for that. Hell, even my watch has a computer in it :D

I'd say, in general, I spend about 7 hours a day working with/on/at a computer. That's about 50 hours or so a week, but most weeks it's probably closer to 60-65

[Kati Compton]

As soon as I get home, I check my email on my desktop, read some news (BBC, CNN, Salon, etc.), and maybe play a game or two or download some music. Then it's time for food, doing things around the house, etc. One last check of e-mail and news before I go to bed, and start the whole thing over again the next day. :)
No work after you get home? I'm jealous... That sounds so nice... ;)

Hmm. I'd have to say I spend about 12-14 hours on an average workday in front of a computer.

[vipes]

168 hours a week :D

just kidding though, lol, more like, maybe 60 - 80 hours

[maximus]

So how many hours a week do you spend in front of a computer and using a Pocket PC?

Sometimes I fell asleep in front of my laptop. Does that counts ? :)

Anyway, 10 hours/day on weekdays and 15 hours/day on weekends. So that is around 80 hours/week.

[nuka_t]

after getting my x30, i am constantly in front of a screen, everywhere. at school, and whenever im not at my desktop, my ppc is always in my pocket waiting for some downtime.

id say i spend anout 60 hours a week.

thats a scary number. 8O

[Jonathon Watkins]

id say i spend anout 60 hours a week.

thats a scary number. 8O

Yes, that's what I thought too, after my wife pointed it out :worried: .

[Jonathon Watkins]

Through most of the day the PPC sits in the cradle connected via wi-fi, where it used to keep my phone line tied up most of the time. I have a fibre-optic line connecting that to my Targus folding keyboard's Ir port, so it's effectively a little notebook PPC on my chaotic desk:

That's a clever setup. Cute. :)

[Jonathon Watkins]

Personally I spend a great deal more time in front of a computer than the BBC suggest, at least 50 hours a week for work and another 10-20 at home. I agree that a significant factor is how bad (UK) T.V. has become.

Welcome TwoWolves, good to have you on board. :D

Yup. the old goggle box leaves much to be desired. :microwave:

Can't agree with the premise that we are a nation of computer buffs as I am constantly helping friends and family with their computer problems. Most of the country is clueless but I do agree that they are far to complicated for the average Joe/Jane and not reliable enough. Love my PPC though (guess that's why I read this site).

Yup, plenty of 'users', to coin a term loosely, but very few who know what they are doing. :?

Love my PPC though (guess that's why I read this site).

Good, good. :mrgreen:

[Sheena]

I could safely say I spend 24 hours a day attached and/or using a PC or PPC because the few minutes I might not be using one are easily dismissed. Basic tasks in a typical day:
1. Up, take PPC from under pillow or wherever it ended up back to cradle for quick sync while I shower & dress.
2. Wait for bus & commute to work, reading books, documents & news on PPC all the way.
3. Work all day in front of PC while PPC charges/syncs. Reading at lunch time on PPC.
4. Same as 2 on the way back.
5. Home, at least another hour for e-mail & surfing at home. Usually though 2 or 3 hours of usage for other tasks.
6. During inner & TV time the PC is backing up or virus-checking or spyware checking or something, I'm just not in front of it, but I do tend to set those up either manually or at the time I'm home (as opposed to 3am for example).
7. Bed to read on PPC until I fall asleep (thank God for automatic off!), and back to 1.

Driving around of course needs a GPS or at least map/address/directions/phone#/shopping list checking. Even watching TV I need the PPC to see what's coming or what I've set reminders for, even using it as a remote control. Out of town on vacation is the same deal.

I just realized the damn thing is my whole life, but I'm not really sorry. I have everything I need just a few taps away & I'm carrying a lot less junk. I'd probably join some of you fellows down the cliff in case of a return to a non-electronic age, but for now, life is good! :clap:

Rosie