A January 2011 survey conducted by Advertising Age magazine and Ipsos Observer found that people are just as dependent on their electronic devices as they are on food.

Advertising Age, a publication dedicated to delivering thorough reporting on the media, marketing and digital industries, conducted this study with their new partner company Ipsos Observer.

Ipsos Observer is a research company that believes surveys can be used to better understand the facets of economy within the modern population.

Electronics versus media

The AdAge study asked 1,000 U.S. consumers which electronic devices were the most important. The study also conducted research on the importance of electronic devices versus the importance of food in the midst of the bad economy and explored avenues of technology use, habit and relevance to consumers.

“There are less impulse-buyers,” Stacy Sutherland, a saleswoman at the Biola Computer Store, said. “People are deferring the purchase of frivolous items because of the economy.”

Food more important than electronics

According to the study, eight percent of respondents said they would give up food before giving up a media consumption device. In contrast, 49 percent of respondents said they would give up cable, 37 percent said they would give up their cell phones and only 6 percent said they would give up Internet before giving up food.

“No, I wouldn’t give up food,” sophomore Bethany Turner said. “We need food to live, not electronics… people get along fine without them. Face time is better. I think that they’re a good tool, but I think that people overuse them.”

Alternate TV sources challenge cable

AdAge reported that respondents of its survey would not give up media entirely. The study found that Wii, Netflix and other sources of television are so popular that almost half of the respondents were willing to give up cable or satellite to watch their favorite television shows using tools such as Netflix instant viewing.

A third of households surveyed had DVR devices, which the households used to watch an average of 42 percent of their TV shows. According to AdAge, 17 percent of those households claimed to watch about 80 percent of their shows after they are aired.

“My most important electronic device is my computer,” freshman Jake Anderson said. “I can use it to watch my favorite shows on Hulu.com.”