Study of Internet Use by Customers of a Large French Store for Computers

Abstract

The objective of this work was to study the relation to the Internet of subjects who own a computer and who use it for professional or personal reasons. We interviewed 150 customers of the biggest French store that specializes in computers. Each day, the mean of duration for connecting time was 6.2 h (SD = 4). Customers were connected 3.7 h (SD = 3.3) between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., 1.8 h (SD = 1.6) between 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., and 0.5 hours at night (SD = 1.3). Men were more often connected between 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. We found a negative correlation between age and duration of connection to internet. Age was negatively correlated to the time of connection between 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. and between 11:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. The number of days of holidays was negatively correlated to total time of connection (p < 0.001) and to connection between 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. (p = 0.04). No correlation was found between the time spent watching television or speaking on a cellular phone and parameters of Internet use. High consumers of games are connected 3.4 h every evening and 1.2 h each night. They spend, in addition, 30 min each day connected to virtual casinos. The typical high consumer of the Internet is young and interested in games on-line, he takes fewer days of holiday than others, and he sends and receives more e-mails than other computer users.