Prime Numbers - Prime Number - NYTimes.com 100,000: The average number of words of information that each American consumed per day outside of work in 2008, according to a study by the Global Information Industry Center at the University of California at San Diego. This doesn't mean we read all those words, only that 100,000 words crossed our eyes and ears outside of work in an average 24-hour day. The single biggest source of those words was television (45 percent), followed by the computer (27 percent) and radio (10.6 percent). All told, according to the report, Americans spent about 11.8 hours per day at home taking in all of those words.