I just read that 1/3 of American TV viewers multitask while watching TV whether they watched live TV or time-delayed TV. That percentage seems low to me. The article went on to explain what the other activities were: surfing the net, reading, social networking and texting.
All of those are the “new” and “sexy” multi-tasking activities. I think there are a lot of multi-tasking activities that were left off the list: eating, talking on the phone, doing puzzles, folding clothes, changing diapers, washing dishes, having sex… The list can be exhaustive.
Are the only tasks worth reporting the “new” technology tasks? I don’t think so. I think the television is rarely viewed in a vacuum.
I would love to see a survey that includes the mundane tasks that television viewers also do while watching live television or their DVRs. Those would actually be more interesting and surprising.
