The average American spends 24 hours a week online

We’re using the internet far more than we used to. So says new data from USC Annenberg (PDF) about the digital lives of Americans.

Nearly always on: Since 2000, time spent online every week by an average American has risen from 9.4 hours to 23.6. Of that, time spent ogling the internet at home has risen from 3.3 to 17.6 hours a week over the same period. That’s a lot of screen time.

Smartphone addicts: The proportion of people accessing the internet from mobile devices has risen from 23 percent in 2010 to 84 percent now. Smartphone e-mail use jumped from 21 to 79 percent, and music streaming on phones soared from 13 to 67 percent. We love them smartphones.

Wider impact: The researchers note that 40 percent of people now think the internet plays an integral role in American politics. (Facebook seems to have just realized that.) Oh, and 62 percent say it’s important for maintaining social relationships. (Err, ditto.)