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So if the StatsCan data is right, the time Canadians spend surfing the Internet is turning us away from family and friends and into anti-social, unkempt misfits – the stereotypical spitting image of IT managers everywhere!

No one is saying that, actually, but it’s the sort of easy interpretation the media tends to make from this pretty ambiguous data. According to a report released this week, those the research agency defined as “heavy” Internet users tended to spend less time with spouses or children or on housework. On the positive side, they seemed to have less stress than those who didn’t use the Internet that much. They also tended to read more books, but then, we already knew they were nerds.

There’s just one problem: StatsCan’s idea of a “heavy” Internet user is one who spends more than an hour a day of their personal time online. This was based on 2005 data, before MySpace and other social networking sites become as popular as they are now. If you’re interested in MySpace and are stuck in those parts of the country that still rely on dialup, I’d challenge you to get what you want off the Internet in less than 60 minutes. If that means less face time with relatives, no wonder -- that’s the opportunity cost of being online and connecting with people in more virtual ways. It’s no surprise that heavy users told StatsCan they felt little sense of community with those in their neighbourhood but expressed greater than average enjoyment in joining or belonging to social clubs.

Unfortunately, this kind of data sampling is becoming meaningless as Internet use becomes a more regular part of our working lives. StatsCan gleaned its insights from diaries participants kept to record how they spend their time. It would probably be difficult for those involved to break out those moments where they stopped doing, say, their homework and read their favourite blog, or downloaded an MP3 while catching up on some office e-mail after dinner. The Internet encourages multi-tasking, a phenomenon which was not captured or measured in the data StatsCan published.

There are, of course, heavy users in the enterprise just as there is in the home, but why doesn’t anyone study that more closely? I’m not talking about the usual nagging reports in which researchers wring their hands over the productivity lost from workers who watch YouTube clips when they’re supposed to be toiling away. What about a study that examined how heavy Internet use, personal or professional, influenced or reflected the social patterns among colleagues, partners and customers?

Do heavy (or, as the IT industry would call them, “savvy”) Internet users develop more sophisticated relationship skills that are put to use with contacts of stakeholders who just aren’t available in person on a regular basis? Some of them probably do, but we have few ways of learning how to teach these to “light” users. There are many people who, having grown accustomed to using Web-based applications on the job, understand the tricks and shortcuts to finding what they want online more quickly, potentially making better use of their personal time online.  Such habits would be worthy of study, but are seldom the focus of it.

The StatsCan report is called The Internet is Changing The Way Canadians Spend Their Time. Sure it is, but don’t bother looking at this kind of research if you want to understand how.

sschick@itbusiness.ca

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