I'm probably not an average person (nor am I American), but my TV "average" is higher than actual pure TV watching. For example I could spend 8 hours with a friend, drinking some wine, chatting, with the TV on - paying attention to it at times, at others ignoring it. In terms of "how much do you watch TV" my total viewing time just went up 8 hours, but it was 8 hours of background for a night catching up with a friend, not 8 hours for the sake of passive consumption.
Equally, I'll often put easy-watching TV on when I'm at home but doing something else - working on my laptop, text-chatting to friends on Skype/WhatsApp, browsing sites like Hacker News. Again, this would raise my average, but it's not quite the same as going "what am I doing tonight? Watching the TV and nothing else" if the TV is getting a small fraction of my attention.
I just wonder to what extent this sort of half-watching increases averages, or on the flip side to what extent high-sounding averages are genuinely worrying.
Equally, I'll often put easy-watching TV on when I'm at home but doing something else - working on my laptop, text-chatting to friends on Skype/WhatsApp, browsing sites like Hacker News. Again, this would raise my average, but it's not quite the same as going "what am I doing tonight? Watching the TV and nothing else" if the TV is getting a small fraction of my attention.
I just wonder to what extent this sort of half-watching increases averages, or on the flip side to what extent high-sounding averages are genuinely worrying.