UK housewives dominate net time

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 2 Jan 2009 at 09:09

A survey of 27,000 web users in 16 countries has revealed that UK housewives spend the most time online.

The survey, conducted by TNS, reveals that UK housewives spend 47% of their free time surfing the web, compared with 39% for students and 32% for the unemployed.

However, despite the high figures, the UK as a nation remains some way behind China when it comes to the fraction of leisure time spent on the net. The survey reveals that Chinese people spend nearly 44% of their free time online, as opposed to just 28% for the British.

The survey also reveals just how important online contact is becoming in our real-life social interactions. Around 58% of the 2,500 British people interviewed, admitted they had gone on to have face-to-face contact with somebody they met online first, with 45% chatting on the telephone.

The figure lags behind the Germans, 76% of whom said they had met with a person they talked with first online.

The figure also notes the increasing trend towards "online-only" friendships, with respondents claiming around a quarter of their friends fell into this bracket.

Surprisingly, this figure actually rises with age. According to the findings, those in the 35 to 44-year-old age group claim around 33% of their friends are online only.

The increasing importance of online friendships, however, is throwing up a few odd results. Not least of which being that 37% of respondents admitted they were unsure of an online friend's true identity, but did not worry about it.