College students may be hitting the books, but they’re also taking in lessons on gaming, movie watching and text messaging. And female students appear to be bridging the gap with their male classmates when it comes to areas of technology and entertainment.
For example, college women spend 2.7 hours per week playing computer games online, compared to men who spend 2.9 hours. The two groups are almost equally likely to own a portable video game system (27% men versus 22% women), according to a study by Alloy and Harris Interactive.
College students in general are four times more likely (59%) than the general population (14%) to download music. Some 8% of college men download music daily versus 5% of women.
And entertainment plays a big role in college students’ lives. They spend nearly $3 billion a year on entertainment categories such as movies and gaming.
College students are also equally likely to use instant messaging (43% versus 42%). About 60% of students who own cell phones send and receive text messages on their phones. The female students are more likely to own phones (82%), compared to males at 74%.
Other findings include:
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91% of college students have computers and 84% have televisions.
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Men are more likely than women to own MP3 players (22% versus 12%).
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Men are more likely than women to watch videos/DVDs daily (12% versus 6%).
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Men spend an average of 11.5 hours per week playing video and computer games.
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Men are seven times more likely than women to play video games on a non-portable system daily (15% vesus 2%).
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On average, men own 21 games.
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Intent to purchase a DVD player in the next year is virtually equal among the college students (15% versus 16%).
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In the past six months, nearly six in ten college students have purchased (56%) or rented (59%) a DVD.
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Students report similar movie-viewing freqency at a commercial theater in the past six months (90% versus 93%).
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Friend recommendations (76%) and in-theatre movie previews (75%) appear to be the most influential in driving movie choices among college students.
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12% of college students’ movie tickets are bought online
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On average, a college student spends $70 annually on movie tickets while a person in the general population, including children, spends only $32.
The study also found that 95% of college students are online. Sixty-five percent of online students use broadband Internet access compared to 37% in the general online population.
The study was conducted online in the U.S. in October among a nationwide cross section of 4,608 college students aged 18 to 30.
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