LAPTOP 6.25.13

Does owning a shiny new tablet make you smarter than your peers? According to a new survey by media research firm Wakefield, most American tablet owners think so.

Current events expert is the title most Americans aspire to, the survey found, as compared to being seen as sports buffs, fashionistas and celebrity gossips. And 69 percent of tablet owners felt they knew more about current events as compared to 47 percent of non-tablet owners who believed so. Tablet owners also appear to feel more pressure to seem like they’re in-the-know. While more than one-third of the 1,000 people polled have pretended to know about a news story to impress others, 52 percent of tablet owners have lied about knowing about a news story to impress others, compared to 27 percent of non-tablet owners.

Among other things, the survey also found that 70 percent of American adults liked to engage in debate about the news, in particular over such topics as politics (49 percent), sports (32 percent), awards shows (13 percent) and fashion trends (12 percent). Some 68 percent of employed Americans surveyed believed that keeping up with the news was important to their career and would make important financial decisions based on something they’ve read.

Source: LAPTOP