Time Estimates of Internet Surfing and Video Gaming

Abstract

Time estimation researchers have long been interested in the effects exerted by the time estimation paradigms, the task’s target duration and the nature of the task on the precision and variability of time estimates. Only a few studies though have focused on how these results can be applied to daily life tasks. Hence, the present study aims at exploring these effects with two different tasks: surfing the Internet and playing a video game. Results show that the time estimation paradigms, target duration and task effects normally observed in short and simple tasks can be extended to daily life tasks. Of relevance, the video gaming task was significantly underestimated compared to the Internet surfing task. These findings are discussed in the light of the current time estimation literature.