This project collects U.S. data from a national probability sample of 1000 households on the ownership of advanced household and communication technologies that could be directly compared to survey data being collected in more than 10 European common market countries. More importantly, it examines how the presence of these new technologies seems to affect the daily lives of those who own them, by examining the daily time-use patterns of these owners with the time-use patterns of non-demographic and personal predictors of activity patterns. The project builds on 1993-94 pilot surveys supported by a previous NSF grant. It would also build on the 30 years of experience of collecting and analyzing time--diary data that provide national estimates of how time is spent -- and how time seems to be affected changes in demographic factors (like marriage, parenthood and work), by social trends and by ownership of technology. The diary method has been found to generate not only reliable and valid time estimates, but new insights into the effects of earlier technologies, like television, washing machines and microwave ovens. Supplemental questions shed light on how other aspects of daily life are affected by these new technologies.
