Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


0

Women Overtake Men Online

Women's web usage beats men's, UK study says

Share

(Newser) – British women aged 25 to 49 are spending more time online than men for the first time ever, a significant shift that may reverberate across the Web, the Guardian reports. The stereotype of youth ruling cyberspace also takes a hit in a new study—people over 65 average 42 hours a month online, compared to 35 for teens.

"It's a big shift and has implications for the kind of content that content providers want to have," one researcher says of women's growing presence. The trend among Brits, Europe's largest and most active internet population, reflects a much wider demographic shift online. In just 5 years, online hours have doubled as TV watching and radio listening have dropped.

"Ever since it kicked off in the early 90s the web has been male-dominated. For the first time this year women are spending more time on the internet than men," says Peter Phillips, a marketing strategist...   (Shutterstock.com)
Women aged 25-34 spend more time online than men in the same age group.
Women aged 25-34 spend more time online than men in the same age group.   (Shutterstock.com)
"Women in that age group are also more likely to be at home and have more time to spend online," says the watchdog's director of research, James Thickett.   (Index Open)
One thing tipping the demographic balance is the popularity of social networking sites among teenaged girls.
One thing tipping the demographic balance is the popularity of social networking sites among teenaged girls.   (Shutterstock.com)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.6.09
Galleon Scandal: Shocked, Shocked by Insider Trading
11.5.09
Rupert Murdoch Is Mad but Cute
0 comments
VIEWING:
 
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

58 Stories

  Web Game Nets Creator $1.5M 

Players pay for extra points to commit murder, mayhem

Oct 8, 09 2:13 AM CDT
(Newser) - An Internet crime game has earned its young creator nearly $1.5 miilion. Torn, a text-based game noir that lets players commit murder and mayhem, boasts some 41,000 active players and 1.3 million account holders worldwide. The game is free, but players can opt to pay $5 a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • crime • murder • profits • web • virtual reality • Britain • programmers • profit margins

Turkish Women Lured to Fake Big Brother, Filmed Naked

Police rescue 9 after calls from worried relatives

Sep 11, 09 5:09 AM CDT
(Newser) - Police rescued nine young women who had been lured to a Turkish villa where they were duped into believing they were part of a Big Brother-style reality show and photographed naked, reports the BBC and local media. The women stayed in the villa for 2 months, initially believing they were... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Turkey • reality TV • Internet • women • Istanbul • Big Brother • nude photo • nude • naked

Singapore Teen Gamers Planned Mass Suicide

Leader who leaped to his death believed they could come back to save world

Sep 8, 09 2:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - Eight Singapore teenagers who played the video game Slayers planned to commit mass suicide but backed out after watching the first two leap to their death from an apartment building window, reports the Straits Times. One of the boys who died vowed the group would come back from the dead... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • suicide • web • Singapore • teenager • internet game • suicide pact

Web Monitoring Firm
Sells Kids' Chatter

Company also notifies parents when kids go astray online

Sep 5, 09 6:55 PM CDT
(Newser) - A company that polices children's Internet chatter is also selling it to companies that want marketing data on the quick, CNET reports. Sentry Parental Control Software, which monitors kids online—and triggers a phone call to parents when kids go astray—is amassing their chatter about products and selling it.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • children • software • computer • teenager

OPINION

 2 Much Kittehs 
 on teh Interwebs;
 1-Day Ban Planned 

Can "9.9.09—A Day Without Cats on the Internet" possibly fly?

Sep 3, 09 3:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - Let’s face it: Cats own the Internet. But it’s getting a little much, and that’s why the Urlesque blog is organizing “9.9.09—A Day Without Cats on the Internet.” The master plan calls for cats not to be mentioned, emailed, viewed, nor... More »

MORE ABOUT:
pets • technology • social networking • Internet • YouTube • web surfing • LOLcats • moratorium • computers • cats

58 Stories


Link to the British study
Ofcom

More on the demographic findings
Silicon.com

Children also among rising net population
Economist


Arts & Living  •  Technology  •  World 
TwitterFollow @Newser on Twitter

 
Internet • elderly • web surfing • women • Britain • teenager

from our news partners