Americans will devote half their lives to forms of media next year Americans love their media — so much that next year they'll spend nearly half their lives watching TV, going online, listening to the radio (or music) and reading. That's what the U.S. Census Bureau is predicting in its "Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007," out Friday. The annual report uses data from several sources, including private industry and non-profits. It has statistics on everything from elections to transportation to finances. In 2000, Americans spent 3,333 hours consuming media — and most of that time (1,467 hours) was spent in front of the TV, according to Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a media-oriented money management company that supplied much of the media data used in the report. Next year, Americans will spend 3,518 hours with their beloved media, including 1,555 in front of the TV, says Veronis Suhler Stevenson. That means the average American will spend roughly 146 days, or five months, consuming media. "It's the activity we do more than anything else," said Leo Kivijarv, vice president of research at PQ Media, which collaborated with Veronis Suhler Stevenson. However, the numbers don't mean we're just sitting in front of our machines; we're multitasking. "I know people who use television as wallpaper," said Paul Saffo, a technology forecaster based in Silicon Valley. But, he added, "The news means that America is making a smooth transition from a couch potato to a mouse potato. Put another way, I suspect the only exercise Americans are getting is walking between their TVs and their computers." The numbers mean that "people want to have — and almost need to have — information and entertainment at their fingertips now, 24 hours a day," Kivijarv says. They also mean that technology tools are continuing to shift our "social, political and economic lives," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which also supplied data for the report. "In the past decade, the Internet and cellphones have changed the way people interact with each other, the way they work, the way they spend their leisure time," Rainie said. Also changed: "The way they maintain and grow their social networks, and the way they share their stories with others through blogs (and) social networking sites." The Census report, available in book form (bookstore.gpo.gov), also contains other nuggets of data: •Nearly half (47%) of college freshmen enrolled in 2005 had an A average in high school, compared with 20% in 1970. •The majority (79%) of freshmen in 1970 had a personal objective of "developing a meaningful philosophy of life." By 2005, 75% said their primary objective was "being very well off financially." •In 2005, there were nearly 1.4 million men and women serving in the U.S. armed forces; in 1970 there were more than 3 million.