Research reveals that adults who live with children are more engaged online than those who don’t.

I’m not advocating any practical experiments amongst Flip’s staff but research announced last month from the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) reveals that adults who live with children are more engaged online than those who don’t, indicating that family needs and wants are shaping web behaviour. I can think of no compelling reasons why parents in the Middle East would behave significantly different to European Mums and Dads so the next time some noisy, overweight, screaming, spoilt brat is ruining your Friday brunch take solace in the facts below and think how he / she is actually contributing to the development of our wonderful industry. ‘EIAA Digital Families Report’ highlights:

• Almost three-quarters (73%) of people living with children are logging on to the internet each week, compared with only half (52%) of those without
• 30% of these digital parents are watching film, TV or video clips online, demonstrating how entertainment is becoming integral to the family internet experience
• Digital parents are using the internet to express themselves more and to interact with others – web activities such as ratings and reviews and creating and sharing content have experienced a significant boost since 2006 (+40% and +27% respectively)
• The websites visited by digital parents and their online activities vary according to the age of the children – people living with very young children (between nought and four) are increasingly visiting health and film websites (+24% since 2006) while those with older children (between 16 and 18) are enjoying more TV sites (+77%)
• People living with children are more technologically aware and advanced due to their heightened experience of, and exposure to, gadgets and gizmos – 82% of people living with children have a home PC compared to 62% of those living without children
• Digital parents are ramping up their web time, spending 11.6 hours online each week (up 36% since 2004) and over a quarter are heavy users of the internet (27%)
• Increased online activity has meant that digital families are consuming other media less as a result of the internet – 44% of digital parents are watching less TV, almost a third read fewer magazines and newspapers (31% and 30% respectively) and almost a quarter (24%) listen to the radio less
• People living with children find the web provides what they want quickly and saves them time (76% vs. 68% of people without children) and almost half (47%) believe it puts them in control (vs. 42%).

Gadgets and Games Overall, the study demonstrates that people living with children are more technologically aware and advanced due to their heightened experience of, and exposure to, gadgets and gizmos: