PCs beat TV for the internet generation

Last updated at 15:37 06 July 2006


Britain's young people are for the first time spending more time looking at internet sites than watching TV, a new survey has revealed.

The lives of youngsters aged between 16 and 25 are dominated by their computers.

The average youth spends 23 hours a week online and 67 per cent of youngsters say they would be "lost" without their PC.

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But despite swapping the gogglebox for Google, most have traditional aspirations - wanting to settle down, buy a home and start a family.

The survey on the generation that prefers a computer mouse to a TV remote is called The Tech Tribe Report 2006.

It shows the marked loss of interest in television. Only 46 per cent said they would be "lost" without their TV - which they spend only 17 hours a week watching.

Young people do 25 per cent of shopping on the internet and 43 per cent of school pupils had visited a music download website in the past week.

Most young people believe the internet improves their lives (75 per cent) and half believe that chatting online is as important as face-to-face contact.

Ten per cent had visited an internet dating website in the previous week and 18 per cent had met a long-term partner through the net.

But most young people still have many old-fashioned values, the survey discovered.

Eighty per cent expect to marry and the same percentage expect to have children.

More than 90 percent want to own their own home and 82 per cent believe that family life is important. Another similarity with previous generations is that young people have no faith in politicians.

They reject traditional politics. Slightly fewer than half of those eligible to vote went to the polls at last year's General Election.

They are far more likely to vote for Pop Idol or Big Brother television polls.

But there are also major differences between the generations.

Young people are far more ambitious now than they were in the past.

Nearly half want to launch their own business and only a third want to work for a big company.

Seventy-four per cent agree it is "vital" to travel and see the world.

The survey was produced after more than 1,300 online interviews were conducted with young people in April by specialist marketing consultancy Face.

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