From: "James J. O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:30:04 -0500

With thanks for comments on my last update.  To Laval H., I observed
only that I did not count "chatting" as an activity because the Amtrak
"Quiet Car," civilization's last bulwark against a world of cell
yellers, would skew the numbers.

On a cross-country flight yesterday, I happened to notice that my row
of seats had six tablet computers, so I got up to do a count of about
150 seats, from which:

30 were reading print;
11 were reading e-readers (dedicated Kindle/Nook or iPad that I could
see was being read for text),
16 were using an electronic device for other purposes (mainly laptops
but also video on a tablet)

There was some chatting and a lot of napping, lolling, and staring.
My *mild* observation is that I had imagined the e-/print reading
ratio would have been higher, given that long-haul trains and planes
are populated by people with *some* disposable cash and with an
interest in diverting themselves effectively, and for all that we hear
of sales, the numbers are still modest.  I repeat my observation,
though, that the tablet/laptop/phone provides other resources for
distraction besides "reading".

I'm well aware there is no statistical significance to these
observations:  systematic surveying would be interesting.

Jim O'Donnell
Georgetown