UK teens close to spending full working week online

Showing just how important broadband connections are becoming in the UK for young people, a new survey found they spend some 34 hours online each week.

This is only six hours shy of the amount of time someone in full-time employment and working eight hours a day would spend at their job.

And according to MTV and Microsoft, who conducted the study, these people aged 16 to 24-years-old are mainly making use of their internet connections to engage in communication with their peers.

Andrew Davidson, a vice president at an MTV subsidiary, said: "Friends play an expanded role in the lives of young people. When they come home from school, college or work, socialising does not stop as it used to, it just goes online.

"Kids and young people are now connected constantly."

Social networks like MySpace and Facebook have become something of a virtual playground for these teen net users, as the survey suggests each of them is a member of up to three social networks and connected to 86 people through these sites.

However, instant messaging still remains popular among this group which may suggest that there is potential for growth in VoIP services for young people.

This may be especially true since the survey found that 80 per cent of those questioned said they only appreciated technology for how it could ease their daily life.

Mr Davidson explained: "They don't enjoy texting, or emailing for its own sake - what they enjoy is communicating with their friends all the time."

Posted on: 2007-08-06, in: Broadband

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