How Much Time

Something that has always been a constant complaint or criticism of Youtube is that it is a waste of time and a draw on the focus and work ethic of you the younger generation. As this is pertains heavily to my topic, it really interests me to research. I want to find out how much our generation spends time online as opposed to other decades, or even just the trends in recent years. I would also want to find how much of the time we spend online is dedicated to Youtube, and of the time spent on Youtube what percentage of the videos being watched could be labeled as frivolous or a waste of time.

I'm hoping that this knowledge would help me better understand the exact impacts of Youtube on the daily life of the average teen, and how much it can be considered a detriment to our society. I also want to be able to examine the trends over time to form a good idea of where Youtube and the usage of Youtube will be in several years. It is important to know this, as it could become the basis of a conceptual research into how our generation is different from older generations, or as the basis of a practical research in reducing the amount of time wasted on Youtube or shifting the focus of Youtube videos away from frivolity.

A huge part of what makes this research hard is determining what Youtube videos qualify as frivolous or mere time-wasters. One could argue that a music video is a simple waste of time, while others could argue that it is a valuable look into the styles of artists and helps young aspiring artists be inspired and practice.

Another argument is that time spent relaxing is not time-wasted, merely not spent on work, that relaxation is important. This is why it would be important to specify that by "frivolous" videos I mean videos that don't have a direct connection to becoming a better person or contributing directly to a job or task. As it is a thoroughly subjective piece on the detriment of something a lot of people use daily, it would have to be handled with care and very choice diction to avoid offense. The good news is that the data would be fairly straightforward and rely on math and non-arguable calculations. These solid facts could provide a more credible and believable background to my research paper.

Some sources that I found in a cursory search for data
time spent online: http://www.pewresearch.org/millennials/teen-internet-use-graphic/
online time spent on youtube: http://mashable.com/2012/11/28/social-media-time/
youtube time spent on specific genres:http://youtube-trends.blogspot.com/