One significant trend that stands out is an apparent feminisation of the internet. "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, strategy and market developments partner at Ofcom, referring to web users in the 25 to 49 age bracket. "It's a big shift and has implications for the kind of content that content providers want to have on the internet."

Among 25- to 34-year-olds, women now spend more time using the internet than men, according to the Ofcom report published today. Although men account for the majority of web time in most other age groups, women have also taken a slight but significant lead in the 35-49 bracket.

[...] Much has been made of the trend among children to use various media simultaneously, such as browsing the web while watching TV. But for all the multitasking, their growing take-up of mobile phones and the web, where they spend an average two hours a day, still comes at the expense of older media. Playing on computer games and watching DVDs have both fallen.

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