UK housewives spend nearly half their free time on Internet

London, Jan 1 (ANI): Housewives in Britain spend almost half their free time online - more than any other social group in the world, a new study has shown.

The survey of more than 27,000 web users in 16 countries has shown that the Chinese spend the largest fraction of their leisure time online. However, UK housewives spend even more than China's average - 47percent.

Germans are the most likely to meet someone in real life that they first met online; more than three quarters have done so.

The study also found that the UK is the least trusting of information in its newspapers among the 16 countries.

The Digital World Digital Life study was conducted by global market information group TNS, which asked 27,522 people aged between 18 and 55 to answer questions about their web use and compared respondents' faith in traditional versus online media.

In America, domestic goddesses spend just 38 per cent of their leisure time at the computer.

Of those questioned, 81 per cent of housewives in Britain ranked the internet as "very important", but rather than frittering away their time, the research found most were shopping online, reports the Telegraph.

The Danish spend the least amount of spare time on the web -15 per cent - which is half the global average of 30 per cent.

The average respondent in China spends 44 percent of their leisure time online, nearly three times the amount of the average Danish respondent.

On average across all countries, under-25s spend 36 percent of their leisure time online; in China, under-25s claim they spend 50 percent.

Arno Hummerston, managing director of TNS Global Interactive, said: "Online acquaintances are now perceived by most of us as real acquaintances. This is underlined by the high percentages of people who, having first met people online, go on to meet them in person or at least by talking on the phone.

"But behind that is the sense of worry among our respondents who clearly express concern about the true online identity of these apparent friends." (ANI)