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Visual Usage by College Students

A Research Study to Determine TV, PC, and Phone Usage by College Students

Contact: Chuck Martin [email protected] (603) 750-3020 The Study This study was conducted at The Whittemore School of and Economics at the University of New Hampshire to determine the usage of visual media, which is defined as personal devices that receive information (PCs, televisions, and phones) among college students. The study, conducted by student researchers, also aimed to determine the amount of hours students used electronic screens during an average weekday.

Background Whittemore School of Business and Economics student researchers recently completed a study to determine the types of screens college students are utilizing and what they are being exposed to during their viewing experience. The survey was administered by members of a market research class led by adjunct professor Chuck Martin. A total of 1,188 students from all colleges at the university (College of and Physical , College of Liberal Arts, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, College of Health and Services, Thompson School of Applied Sciences, and the Whittemore School of Business and Economics) were surveyed.

Executive Summary The study found that the overall screen usage is greater among younger students. The freshmen and sophomore classes are the heaviest users and upperclassmen are . There is little difference between colleges within the university as the different screens used and the amount of time they are used are similar. The study also found that television usage is inversely related to and phone usage, meaning that as and cell/ are used more, less television is watched. Computers were the most highly used devices in terms of typical weekday usage as well as for types of uses (, shopping, , etc.). Television is the device used for the most exposure to .

Major University Findings Researchers defined light consumption of visual media to be between one to three hours of exposure and heavy consumption was defined as usage exceeding ten hours per day. For the purpose of the study visual media occurs through three screens sources: television, computer, and cell phone. Through these screens visual media is consumed via exposure to advertising, education, , information/news, interconnecting, and shopping.

Overall Usage The results and analysis for the entire collection of surveys are as follows:

Overall Media Usage (Television) Entertainment: 81% Ad Exposure: 73% Information/News: 61% Education: 16% Interconnecting: 7% Shopping: 4%

Overall Media Usage (Computer) Education: 94% Interconnecting: 89% Entertainment: 82% Information/News: 82% Shopping: 69% Ad Exposure: 61%

Overall Media Usage (Cell/) Interconnecting: 84% Entertainment: 36% Information/News: 21% Education: 12% Ad Exposure: 12% Shopping: 6%

The study found that students are exposed the most to media through computer screens. Between computers and television, computers have the most usage, but also have the lowest advertising exposure . The study found that 89 percent of students use computers for entertainment, while 82 percent use televisions for the same activity. The highest exposure for cell/smartphones is interconnecting, at 84 percent, and using cell/smartphones for education was the least at 12 percent.

Overall Heavy Screen Usage (by device) Television: 13 % Computer: 77 % Cell/Smartphone: 65 %

Overall Light Users Of Screens (by device) Television: 58 % Computer: 2 % Cell/Smartphone: 14 %

The study found that as students used screens more often they were more apt to utilize computer (77 percent) and cell/smartphone (65 percent) screens and less likely to spend time watching television (13 percent). The light users of screens had higher usage of television (58 percent) while they spent little time on computers (2 percent) and cell/smartphones (14 percent).

Overall Types of Phones in Use Cell phone: 71 % Smartphone: 29 % Landline: 3 %

Screen Usage Based on Hours Low (1-3 hours): 14 % Medium (4-9 hours): 54 % High (10+): 32 %

The majority of students use screens at a medium level (54 percent) every day, and the rest trend more towards a high (32 percent) rather than a low level (14 percent).

Findings Of the 65 percent of cell/smartphone users in the heavy screen usage category, 29 percent had smartphones. Also, 26 percent of light television users own smartphones. Computers are the most used for every category respondents are exposed to (ad exposure, education, entertainment, etc.). Ninety-four percent of students used computers for educational purposes. The study also found that 84 percent of students used cell/smartphone for interconnecting, which is 5 percent lower than that of a computer. Television, being watched the least, but has the most ad exposure with 73 percent.

Screen Usage Across ClassClasseseseses The results and analysis for each undergraduate class standing is as follows:

Freshmen Overall Heavy Screen Usage (by device) Computer: 86% Cell/Smartphone: 71% Television: 11%

Overall Light Users Of Screens (by device) Television: 62% Cell/Smartphone: 12% Computer: 2%

Overall Types of Phones in Use Cell phone: 73% Smartphone: 25% Landline: 1%

Findings Of all classes freshmen were the heaviest computer users at 86 percent. Of that, 49 percent used their computer for interconnecting and did so by using their cell/smartphones for interconnecting, 47 percent, rather than television or computer screens.Freshmen use landline phones the least out of all classes at 1 percent.

Sophomore Overall Heavy Screen Usage (by device) Computer: 79% Cell/Smartphone: 67% Television:13%

Overall LLightight Users Of Screens (by device) Television: 55% Cell/Smartphone: 11% Computer: 3%

Overall Types of Phones in Use Cell phone: 72% Smartphone: 26% Landline: 2%

Findings The study found that sophomores were the average among all of the years. This class is the bridge to the junior and senior, with percentages all about average.

Junior Overall Heavy Screen Usage (by device) Computer: 74% Cell/Smartphone: 61% Television: 14%

Overall Light Users Of Screens (by device) Television: 61% Cell/Smartphone: 14% Computer: 2%

Overall Types of Phones in Use Cell phone: 65% Smartphone: 31% Landline: 4%

Findings Of the 29 percent of smartphone users, junior and seniors used smartphones the most with 31 percent each. Senior Overall Heavy Screen Usage (by device) Computer: 72% Cell/Smartphone: 62% Television: 14%

Overall Light Users Of Screens (by device) Television: 54% Cell/Smartphone: 18% Computer: 5%

Overall Types of Phones in Use Cell phone: 65% Smartphone: 31% Landline: 4%

Findings The study found that the higher the class, the more use of landline phones. Juniors and seniors double the percentage of freshmen and sophomores with 4 percent. Seniors have the lowest heavy users of computers with 72 percent. Seniors spend the most time on the computer interconnecting at 51 percent out of all of the classes. Only 44 percent of seniors, however, used their cell/smartphone for interconnecting, the least of all classes. Each class gets the majority of their information/news from computers and all classes equally prefer using television or computers the most for entertainment.

Screen Usage by College The results and analysis for each segment of collegiate academia are as follows:

Overall Heavy Screen Usage Television Business: 14% Engineering: 13% Health and Human Services: 14% Liberal Arts: 15% Life Sciences: 8%

Computer Business: 79% Engineering: 78% Health and Human Services: 74% Liberal Arts: 80% Life Sciences: 79%

Cell/Smartphone Business: 74% Engineering: 54% Health and Human Services: 67% Liberal Arts: 66% Life Sciences: 60%

Overall Light Screen Usage Television Business: 51% Engineering: 59% Health and Human Services: 54% Liberal Arts: 62% Life Sciences: 64%

Computer Business: 1% Engineering: 4% Health and Human Services: 4% Liberal Arts: 3% Life Sciences: 2%

Cell/Smartphone Business: 7% Engineering: 18% Health and Human Services: 14% Liberal Arts: 14% Life Sciences: 15%

Overall Types ooff Phones In Use Cell Phone Business: 63% Engineering: 72% Health and Human Services: 71% Liberal Arts: 73% Life Sciences: 66%

Landline Business: 2% Engineering: 1% Health and Human Services: 4% Liberal Arts: 2% Life Sciences: 3%

Smartphone Business: 36% Engineering: 26% Health and Human Services: 24% Liberal Arts: 25% Life Sciences: 31%

Findings Across all of the schools at UNH everyone had high usage of cell/smartphones, with business students using them the most at 75 percent, and engineering students using them the least with 54 percent. Business school students had the lowest usage of cell phones overall with only 62 percent, but had the highest use of smartphones at 36 percent. In regards to computer usage every school had high usage, while television had the lowest overall usage across the schools. The school the largest percentage of both mediums users and high users of screens was business students with 57 percent and 34 percent.

Appendix

University of New Hampshire Research Team That Conducted Study of VVisualisual Media Usage Among College Students

Beamon, Danielle Borges, Lauren Hounsell, Kirby Bourque, BenjaminBenjamin**** Johnson, Thomas Brody, Amanda King, Brian Callaghan, Megan Kwasnik, Karrah Cecchini, Spencer* Lambert, Angela Comeau, Hayley Luszey, Ashley Cormier, Caryn Mott, Jennifer Covert, Brittany Mutch, Ryan DeAngelo, Michael Nettleship, CharlesCharles**** Gargano, Matthew O'Connell, Kelly Giacalone, Scott Satir, Vicente Grundhoff, Rachel Simmers, Benjamin Hartley, Sara Tkowski, Ryan Himmer, Kory Verville, Caitlin Zelenka, Adam *Authors of report