I would guess I read between five to 10 blogs a day on average, and at least two or three every day. My parents? Combined, I would be surprised if they read two. (I’m sure they’ll let me know if I’m wrong.)

So I decided to dig around and try to find age breakdowns, to see if they would bear this assumption out. Googling “blog readership 2008,” the first result was the Pew Internet & American Life site, which provided what I was looking for.

First, to get a feel for general usage, according to a December 2008 survey, 72 percent of American adults (18 and older) use the Internet on an average day, while 10 percent read someone else’s online journal or blog and 3 percent create or work on their own online journal or blog.

Fortunately, the Pew site also offers an Excel sheet which drills down further into the numbers.

When asked if they had read someone’s online journal or blog yesterday (which for my purposes, are like saying “on an average day”), the age breakdown, according to the same December 2008 survey, was:

• 18-29: 15%
• 30-49: 11%
• 50-64: 6%
• 65+: 7%

And when asked if they had ever read someone else’s blog or online journal, the age breakdown was:

• 18-29: 43%
• 30-49: 34%
• 50-64: 24%
• 65+: 19%

Meanwhile, when asked if they had created or worked on their own online journal or blog yesterday, the age breakdown was:

• 18-29: 5%
• 30-49: 3%
• 50-64: 2%
• 65+: 2%

And when asked if they had ever created or worked on their own online journal or blog, the age breakdown was:

• 18-29: 20%
• 30-49: 10%
• 50-64: 6%
• 65+: 5%

The stats seem to support my assumption. What was most interesting are the numbers for those who had ever created a blog. That 18-29 year-olds did so over three times as often as 50-64 year-olds and four times as much as those who are 65 and older didn’t necessarily surprise me. But that they did so at twice the frequency as 30-49 year-olds did. The question is why?

Is it because more 30-49 year-olds are parents and, along with their careers, probably don’t have as much time to spend on creating a blog as their younger counterparts? Or are 18-29 year-olds simply online more, possibly because when the Internet started to really take hold in the ’90s, they were kids and it was more likely to become a daily activity in their lives? A combination of the two? Other reasons? I’m curious to find out people’s thoughts.