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You probably don't have as many TVs as you used to

A new survey shows the number of TVs used by US homes is declining. But that doesn't mean we're using fewer screens.

Andrew Gebhart Former senior producer
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You can probably guess why there's been a dip in the average number of TVs used in US homes.

Sarah Tew/CNET

In the past six years, the average number of TVs used by US homes has moved closer to two per household than three. Plus, the percentage of homes with no TVs at all has increased.

The US Energy Information Administration released results from its 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey on Tuesday. The results show the average number of televisions in residential households has decreased from 2.6 to 2.3. The share of homes without a TV rose to 2.6 percent, from 1.3 percent in 2009.

The EIA concludes this dip is largely due to the increased popularity of using phones, tablets and computers as a means of entertainment for younger generations. So it's not like we're turning off the TV and going outside en masse. We're simply turning to smaller screens.

Conducted in person, online and via mail-in responses, the survey used a sample size of more than 5,600 homes.