Definitions:
"Fuzzy" = a student focused in the humanities area
"Techie" = a student focused in the sciences and engineering areas
"Both" = a student who views him-/herself as a mixture of a techie and a fuzzyAccidental Sampling:
Our accidental sampling yielded 236 Stanford undergraduate students that were 55% male, 45% female. There were about 20% freshmen, 26% sophomores, 25% juniors, and 29% seniors (or fifth years). Surprisingly, 43% of students surveyed identified themselves as techie and fuzzy (both), while 34% said they were techie, and only 22% said they were fuzzy.
Average daily internet usage: 3.46 hours/day = 24.22 hours/week
Average daily internet usage per class, discipline, and gender. We found that seniors used the Internet almost an hour a day more than the other classes. Techies used the Internet most, followed by "both," followed by fuzzies. Males reported using the Internet more than females (but this may also represent the fact that there are more techie males than females currently at Stanford).
Freshman
3.22 hr/day
Sophomore
3.19 hr/day
Junior
3.16 hr/day
Senior
4.12 hr/day
Fuzzies
3.01 hr/day
Techies
3.92 hr/day
Both
3.33 hr/day
Males
3.65 hr/day
Females
3.21 hr/day
Percentage over 10 hr/week on the internet: 87.5%
Despite the fact that techies had higher Internet usage, they used chat software less. Also, they visited friends and talked on the phone the least. Fuzzies spent the most time on the phone and visiting friends, and slightly less time chatting than fuzzy/techies.
Fuzzies (hr/week)
Techies (hr/week)
Both (hr/week)
Weekly phone time
4.72
2.94
3.09
Weekly Chat/AOL IM/ICQ time
3.05
2.69
3.20
Weekly time visiting friends
11.29
8.93
10.43
Weekly Chat/AOL IM/ICQ timeWe found that freshmen used chat software the most, and seniors used it the least.
Freshman
4.89 hr/day
Sophomore
2.64 hr/day
Junior
3.38 hr/day
Senior
1.66 hr/day
" I use the internet to procrastinate."Overall, a large majority of the students surveyed agreed with this statement. Freshmen and seniors had slightly lower percentages.
% Yes
Freshman
84.78
Sophomore
91.80
Junior
96.61
Senior
85.29
Total
89.74
People who play games on the internet.By far, the students who played the most games online were freshmen. Seniors played the fewest games onilne. Techies also had a high percentage compared to fuzzies/both.
% Yes
Freshman
41.30
Sophomore
27.42
Junior
31.03
Senior
14.49
Fuzzy
22.64
Techie
37.04
Both
21.78
Total
27.23
"I spend most of my free time in my room."More than half of techies agreed with this statement, while slightly more than 1 in 3 fuzzy/both students agreed with this.
% Yes
Fuzzy
35.85
Techie
51.85
Both
37.62
Total
42.13
People who have felt depressed or isolated by the internet.An astounding 1 in 4 student surveyed agreed that the Internet has made them feel depressed or isolated. The numbers did not vary significantly across techie/fuzzy/both.
% Depressed/Isolated
Fuzzy
24.53
Techie
26.25
Both
26.47
Total
25.96
People who think the internet has an isolating effect on people in general: 38.84%Although only 25% of students actually reported feeling isolated, almost 40% of people thought that the Internet made other people feel isolated.
People who say:
% True
Internet HAS made me feel depressed
Internet does NOT have an isolating effect in general8.40
Internet has NEVER made me feel depressed
Internet DOES have an isolating effect in general17.42
People who use the internet more than they sleep: 11.21%
"I have friends who I feel more comfortable emailing or IM-ing rather than calling or visiting."Overall, 55% of students agreed with this statement. Though there were no significant differences across field ofstudy, there was a surprisingly large gender gap, where 50% of males agreed with this statement, and 64% of females.
% Yes
Fuzzy
56.6
Techie
53.09
Both 57.84 Male 50.39 Female 64.15 Total
55.93
The amount of time people visit friends correlated with their average daily internet usage.
Note: avg = 3.46 hours
Avg time visiting friends (hr/week)
lowest 25% Internet usage
10.16
next lowest 25% Internet usage 10.5
next highest 25% Internet usage
9.59
highest 25% Internet usage
8.57
The amount of sleep people get correlated with their average daily internet usage.
Note: avg = 3.46 hours
Sleep | internet usage (hr)
Sum of hours
Number of people
Avg sleep (hr/night)
sleep | 0<=x<0.5*avg
345.5
49
7.05
sleep | 0.5*avg<=x<avg
631.5
95
6.65
sleep | avg<=x<1.5*avg
378.5
56
6.76
sleep | x>=1.5*avg
174.842
28
6.24
The percentage of ICQ/IM/Email time out of total internet usage time correlated with their
average daily internet usage.
Note: avg = 3.46 hours
% | total internet usage (hr)
Avg % of (IM/ICQ/Email) / Total internet time
% | 0<= x < .5*avg
50.83
% | .5*avg<= x < avg
57.57
% | avg <= x <1.5*avg
48.50
% | x > 1.5*avg
43.26
The amount of time people spend on the phone correlated with their average daily internet usage.
Note: avg = 3.46 hours
Avg phone hours/week
Phone hours | 0<= x < .5*avg
3.47
Phone hours | .5*avg<= x < avg
3.43
Phone hours | avg <= x <1.5*avg
3.24
Phone hours | x > 1.5*avg
3.63
The percentage of people who play internet games correlated with their average daily internet usage.
Note: avg = 3.46 hours
Yes
No
% Yes
Play Games | 0<=x<0.5*avg
7
43
16.28
Play Games | 0.5*avg<=x<avg
26
69
37.68
Play Games | avg<=x<1.5*avg
18
40
45.00
Play Games | x>=1.5*avg
11
17
64.71