The problem with this study and others like it is that it's based on self-reported survey data. You can't ask people to estimate how much time they spend doing something as lazy as watching TV and expect them to tell the truth--or even know that they're lying. Direct monitoring is the only way to get an accurate read.

Nielsen data, based on a combination of daily diaries and direct measurement through electronic People Meters, suggests that the average person watches more than 30 hours of TV per week. This varies from young men and teens at the lightest averaging in the low 20s to older women who can rack up as much as 60 hours of viewing in a week.

The average person with an internet connection spends around 12-14 hours per week online, when measured in a similar manner by Nielsen NetRatings. That ranges from less than 2 hours for little kids, to over 20 hours for Men 55-64 -- or at least the relatively small percentage of them who have access at all.

With the exception of a few shows, (Housewives, Grey, Numbers, etc.) I usually have the TV on for background noise only.

Most of the time, I'm surfing the net while listening to music (Sirius or http://www.Pandora.com/ ) and watching TV. I'll mute the music durring the show and mute the TV durring the commercials. No wonder I have a short attention span!

My problem is that with the wireless connection, I actually watch TV while surfing/working with the laptop on my lap. So I probably spend more time on the Internet than watching TV, but I am sure I probably spend way too much time with both.

I easily spend 3 times as much time surfing the net than I do watching TV, especially now that I'm at college. I was always a tech girl when I was in high school, staying up till the wee hours of the night on occasion reading random sites, but this habit has only been exacerbated by the fact that my dorm only receives about 6 channels, 3 of which (WB, UPN, and FOX) are fuzzy and inconsisten to begin with. It's actaully prompted me to buy episodes of Lost and Commander in Chief from iTunes, since the quality of the broadcast version is sub par when compared to the 2 dollar version I can buy