I have no idea what my hours are on. The only comparison I have is 2180+ hours in Skyrim which I played daily for hours as a way "de-stress" myself from work. (More on weekends)
I would imagine I'm somewhere in the 1000's with Elite.
I guess it was added because they wanted to shut up those people ( steam ) who ( for some reason ) needed time played displayed at their profile. You know because two games at steam shop thingy