Watching TV while surfing the Internet? You’re not alone

Americans are notorious multitaskers in the workplace, but the latest report out of Nielsen (PDF) shows that we're increasingly multitasking when it comes to media consumption as well. The amount of time spent watching TV (live or time-shifted), watching video on the Internet, using a mobile phone, and even watching video on a mobile phone has all increased. And, because days are (unfortunately) not elastic, the firm attributes this increase across all mediums to people doing more and more at the same time.

According to Nielsen's data, the number of those watching video on their mobile devices increased 70 percent year-over-year, while those who already watched video on the Internet increased their viewing by 46 percent. TV consumption is once again at an all-time high, at 141 hours per month, compared to 139 hours per month during the same period a year ago. Internet use stayed almost completely stable at an average of about 26 hours per month.

Where are we getting all of that time? We are apparently overlapping it. A full 57 percent of US Internet users reported browsing the Internet and watching the TV simultaneously—an activity that was largely unheard of in your average home even five years ago, but is relatively common these days. On average, these people spent about 2 hours and 39 minutes per month doing these activities together, with almost a third of their Internet time being spent in front of the TV. "This simultaneous activity is one reason we see continued growth of both Internet and TV consumption," wrote Nielsen.

Of course, we already know that human multitasking rarely works as well as we wish it would—are you really paying enough attention to both the Internet and the TV to be able to remember what you see? There have been numerous studies looking at multitasking and, most recently, a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science said that heavy multitaskiers tend to be more readily distracted by extraneous information than their peers.

Then again, it is only the TV and Internet—you're not operating heavy machinery here—so maybe it's OK. I dunno about you, though, but trying to do too many things at once even in my free time wears me out mentally. Maybe it's time to put down the keyboard and actually indulge ourselves in a distraction-free hour of TV every once in a while.