It’s that time of year again, when data-hungry researchers and citizens get the early Christmas gift of the Statistical Abstract of the United States. A weird and wonderful compendium of the nation’s personal habits, daily rhythms, technical achievements and shortcomings, the 2007 edition speaks volumes about who we are when we’re naughty or nice, sleeping or awake.

The Pew Internet Project was asked to contribute three tables’ worth of data to the Information and Communications section of the abstract this year. Among the many fascinating trends that are reported in the abstract, our data highlights the internet’s growing social, economic and political influence in our daily lives. The online version of the abstract is available from the Census Bureau website here.

See also: coverage from the New York Times and USA Today.