The Chinese spend 44% of their leisure time online, but are pwned by UK housewives with 47%.
In the study by global marketing group TNS over 27,000 people in 16 countries were asked about their ‘net habits, and although the UK ranked a respectable 28%, 2% lower than the US, and 1% lower than Australia, UK housewives dominated the overall results.
This skew towards the housewife was also matched in the States, where the average ‘net usage of 30% leapt up to 37% with American moms. Amazingly, only 34% of the US considers the internet ‘very important’ in their work life.
The Germans led in real life meetings of ‘net friends: nearly 76% have met someone that they only talked to online, whilst the Chinese had one of their lowest scores of 40%.
Back in the UK, there are some surprises though. Students only spend 37% of their time online and the unemployed spend a meager 32%.
Lowest on the list are the Scandinavian countries, who only donate 14% of their time on average to “logging on.”
The average chance of meeting someone in real-life that you became friends with on the ‘net is 40%, so whilst we are spending a lot more time plugged in, we haven’t let it interfere with our social life. That’s got to be a good thing.
The boundaries of friendship travel far and wide as well, with an average 17 friends, 23% will be American, 17% Australian and 10% Canadian.
And second to friends for trusted information? Online news sites (Like this one, *cough*) with 40% of people saying they were a “highly trusted” medium. You can read the entire report if you want the entire run down.
Published: Dec 31, 2008 02:49 pm