Most people fall into an 'internet wormhole' five times a week: study
Average American allegedly gets lost online for 40 minutes each week
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Time is precious – but scrolling on the internet sure can be addictive.
A new study claims that the average American gets lost online for 40 minutes each week, losing track of time to get the bottom of a lingering question.
In a recent survey of 2,000 Americans, conducted by OnePoll and education site FutureLearn, the average respondent reported that they’ll spend about eight minutes, five times per week, falling to an "internet wormhole" while leisurely researching a topic of interest online. Most people said they’ll turn to the web about five times a day to quickly look something up, and the most popular subjects probably sound familiar.
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Most people said they’ll turn to the web about five times a day to quickly look something up, and the most popular subjects probably sound familiar. (SWNS)
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According to the findings, participants said they most easily lose track of time reading up on celebrity news (51%,) current events (40%,) history (34%,) science (32%) and health news (31%.) To that end, three in four polled feel like they lose track of time when researching a subject of interest, too. Moreover, 45% would wager themselves "unofficial experts" on such topics because of their online studies, SWNS reports.
"This demonstrates that people never stop learning — we just don’t realize how much unstructured learning we do as part of our average day," a spokesperson for FutureLearn told the outlet. "It’s key to find a topic that engages you and makes you want to know more.
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Despite the boundlessness of the web, nearly half of participants polled (42%) wished they could return to the classroom for a more formal education on their area of internet interest. (iStock)
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Despite the boundlessness of the web, nearly half of participants polled (42%) wished they could return to the classroom for a more formal education on their area of internet interest.
It’s not all about studying up, however – 77% said they felt satisfied when a Google search confirmed they were correct about something. According to the data drawn in the report, here are the most-searched topics people look up to dispute a disagreement:
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- Historical events – 42%
- Political and economic facts – 41%
- The year an event occurred – 40%
- Spelling – 37%
- Actors in movies – 34%
- Weather forecasts – 33%
- Artists who sing certain songs – 29%
- Geography – 27%
- Grammar – 27%
- Recipe ingredients – 26%