How much time do we spend streaming and gaming?

Ben Kwok November 23, 2022 09:37

Thanks to the FIFA World Cup 2022, we would be able to watch the matches from as early as 6pm to as late as 3am, a much-needed entertainment during the pandemic.

The Qatar tournament provided a boost to the England soccer fans with their first match against Iran, but more than upset by Argentina's shocking 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia.

More excitement will come as the game enters the knockout stage in early December with the final scheduled on 18 December in an unusual winter setting.

All these beg a question: how much time do we actually spend on watching streaming game or movies?

The latest survey by software firm NordVPN might shed some light. Accordingly, Hong Kong people spent close to 20 hours per week on videos, including 11 hours and 19 minutes on YouTube and a further 8 hours and 31 minutes on Netflix and Disney+.

Then there is another nine hours on social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Line, followed by six hours and 35 minutes on Spotify or other music platforms on a typical week.

Gosh, that is already over 35 hours, or 20 per cent of the week.

Have we forgotten to count gaming, online shopping and Zoom (finally, a work item), each of them is estimated to be above five hours?

We also spend on average 9.28 hours per day on internet browsing, more than the hours we slept, or even work.

If we continue to count our time on internet, it is not difficult to conclude, as NordVPN suggests, that we spent some 44 years of our lives online, more than half of our life expectancy of 85 years.

Luckily, the situation might get better in China. Yesterday it emerged that more than three quarters of gamers below 18 limited their playing time to three hours a week.

The time spent by the above age group on Tencent games fell 92 per cent in the third quarter this year, as compared with the same period last year, according to the game publishing committee of the government-backed China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association.

The “gaming addiction problem” of minors in the country is “basically solved”, it proclaimed.

This would please Beijing leaders, which might spell the end of tight internet regulation on Tencent and other gaming companies.

And the World Cup fever would continue to steal away our time spending online before Christmas. Enjoy the game but try not to be too addicted.

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Ben Kwok

EJ Insight writer