The Whole Story: Parents' Average Week On The Web

This USA TouchPoints analysis sought to explore the extent of any differences in the use of various types of Web sites between Moms and Dads in the average week and found there are at least some disparities between the two.

Whereas the vast majority of both Moms and Dads can be found on the Web during the average week, social networking, news and to a lesser extent banking and food/cooking sites all show marked differences in average weekly reach. The greatest difference (just) is in the use of social networking sites, which is dominated by Moms: 44% vs. 26% for Dads. While the female skew in itself may not be surprising, its extent may be more so. However when considering the amount of other research that points to the same conclusion, the well-documented “Mommy-Blogger” phenomenon and the amount of time many Mothers – particularly those of young children – spend at home, this becomes much less surprising. When one also considers how many work environments are not conducive to the use of social networks (or in which they are prevented by firewalls), then this also logically contributes to the disparity.