Over 1.4 million people in Ireland are television "bingeing" by watching their favourite TV series back to back, while the more active among us are increasingly choosing to "lifelog" our exercise patterns.
The latest eircom Household Sentiment Survey (eHSS) shows rising numbers of Irish adults are using services like Netflix to "binge" on TV series.
The nationwide household survey of 1,100 Irish people found Dubliners were far more likely to “binge” on popular TV programmes than those living outside the capital, with 51 per cent admitting to the habit.
Nine out of 10 Irish adults still prefer to watch TV on their television set however, with over 90 per cent of viewers opting to watch live television.
Clinical psychologist David Coleman said watching live TV on a traditional TV set gives people a chance to “relax and unwind the old fashioned way”.
TV bingeing is “symptomatic of people’s busy lifestyles and their desire to choose what they want to see, how they want it and when they want it”, he adds.
Half of all 16- to 34-year-olds tend to watch both live and catch-up TV on portable devices rather than traditional TV sets.
The eHSS report also reveals our increased interest in “life-logging”, particularly among sports enthusiasts. Almost one third of Irish people said they would prefer to use some kind of digital aid such as a cycling or running app on their smartphone when working out.
David Coleman believes this “phenomenon of life-logging” allows users to self-motivate by setting challenges and goals.
“I think people measure themselves as part of their goal setting and to increase their motivation, but there is also the risk that when we measure ourselves frequently that we become solely focused on performance and outcomes.”
The eHSS survey noted a significant increase in the use of smartphones and tablets over the past 12 months, with 85 per cent of Irish adults now using "on the go" digital gadgets. Eircom predicts 1.8 million adults in Ireland will own a tablet by the end of 2014.
The majority of articipants in the survey said the smartphone was the gadget they couldn’t survive without for a week, followed by the TV set, broadband and home computers.
Despite Irish enthusiasm to use more technology in the home, including the future possibility of purchasing a robot to help with household chores, over half of all participants said they would be hesitant about employing a robot to care for a loved one who might be sick or elderly.
But one in three Irish people would be happy to use a driverless car, powered by GPS and satellite feeds, the survey reported.
