Recommended Reading: "How Much Information? 2009 Report on American Consumers"

Global Information Industry Center
Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies
University of California San Diego

Link to UC-San Diego's Global Information Industry Center report. (via Mashable)

Executive Summary (1st two paragraphs)

In 2008, Americans consumed information for about 1.3 trillion hours, an average of almost 12 hours per day. Consumption totaled 3.6 zettabytes and 10,845 trillion words, corresponding to 100,500 words and 34 gigabytes for an average person on an average day. A zettabyte is 10 to the 21st power bytes, a million million gigabytes. These estimates are from an analysis of more than 20 different sources of information, from very old (newspapers and books) to very new (portable computer games, satellite radio, and Internet video). Information at work is not included.

We defined "information" as flows of data delivered to people and we measured the bytes, words, and hours of consumer information. Video sources (moving pictures) dominate bytes of information, with 1.3 zettabytes from television and approximately 2 zettabytes of computer games. If hours or words are used as the measurement, information sources are more widely distributed, with substantial amounts from radio, Internet browsing, and others. All of our results are estimates.

I've linked it before, and I'll link it again.

In so many words: how technology reshapes the reading habit, by Rebecca Piirto Heath. American Demographics, March 1997.