Who knew? A study by OTX finds that on average teens (aged 13-17) spend 11.5 hours online a week (yep, not a day . . . no comment on how many hours I spend online a day. . . .). Nearly a quarter of teens spend over 15 hours online per week, while 45% spent eight hours or less online.
The study also looked at what teens did online. 58% have made a purchase online (though it doesn’t say whether the study made it clear that iTunes counts 
):
On average teens who make purchases online are spending $46 per month, and 26% of teens are spending $50 or more. Clothes and music [only 41%? Again, iTunes counts, folks!] are the two most popular online purchases, followed by books, electronics and DVDs. . . .
Teens with their primary computer in their bedrooms are more likely to be heavy internet users (15+ hours per week) and spend money online.
Hm…. I wonder why….
My favorite part of the study was the series of “Would you rather” questions. According to OTX, more teenagers would rather:
- Have a lot of “real friends” (91%) versus a lot of “online friends”
- Date someone they know from school (87%) someone they met on the Internet
- Shop in a store (82%) versus online
- Watch a full length program on TV (81%) versus online
- Give up television (74%) versus the Internet for a week
- Get information from the Internet (71%) versus traditional media like TV, magazines, or newspapers
- Give up cell phone texting (71%) versus Internet access (apparently not cell phone Internet access, though this isn’t totally clear)
- Get their locker vandalized (63%) versus theirpersonal homepage or profile
- Be limited to a TV antenna for watching TV (63%) versus a dial-up Internet connection
- IM their friend (54%) versus Calling them
The study also corroborated previous findings on simultaneous media consumption.
