The personal computer, culture, and other uses of free time

This report compares the cultural participation and other free time activit ies of heavy users, light users, and nonusers of personal computers, based on a 1997 national survey of more than 6,000 respondents age 18 years of ol der conducted for the National Endowment for the Arts. No significant or co nsistent evidence of time displacement of such leisure activities was found . Indeed, heavier computer use was associated with significantly greater pa rticipation in cultural and other free time activities, even after multivar iate adjustment. These results reinforce conclusions from earlier surveys s howing higher mass media use among home computer users rather than displace ment, as occurred with the introduction of television. These results reinfo rce the conclusion that personal computers might have more in common with " time-enhancing" home appliances such as the telephone than they do with tel evision.