Digital Common Sense

I haven’t been involved in the women online discussions in a while, but this did catch my eye. The Pew Internet & American Life Project has published a new study on how women and men use the Internet.

Men continue to pursue many internet activities more intensively than women. At the same time, trend data show that women are catching up in overall use and are framing their online experience with a greater emphasis on deepening connections with people.

Some excerpts include:

The percentage of women using the internet still lags slightly behind the percentage of men. Women under 30 and black women outpace their male peers. However, older women trail dramatically behind older men.

Men are slightly more intense internet users than women. Men log on more often, spend more time online, and are more likely to be broadband users.

More online men than women perform online transactions. Men and women are equally likely to use the internet to buy products and take part in online banking, but men are more likely to use the internet to pay bills, participate in auctions, trade stocks and bonds, and pay for digital content.

Men are more likely than women to use the internet as a destination for recreation. Men are more likely to: gather material for their hobbies, read online for pleasure, take informal classes, participate in sports fantasy leagues, download music and videos, remix files, and listen to radio.

Men are more interested than women in technology, and they are also more tech savvy.

—– Note: They said that, not me. But there’s some fuel for discussion from a reputable source that you all can go flog to death.   

The entire report can be downloaded here.

Filed by Ken at 1:40 pm under General, Technology