The Elusive 18-34 Year-Old is Habitually Online

Notably, 18 to 34 year-olds account for a significantly larger share of Internet usage relative to their proportion in the total U.S. population. While 18 to 34 year-olds comprise only 24% of the total U.S. population, they account for 38% of the total time spent online and 40% of the total pages viewed. This skew is even more pronounced among men in this age group. Coming of Age in the Digital Age Like all Internet users, 18 to 34 year-olds are most likely to go online at home, from work or from school. However, 18 to 34 year-olds are significantly more likely than other age groups to access the Web from other non-traditional locations. For example, within 30 days of the survey date, 24% of 18 to 34 year-olds accessed the Web from a friend/relatives home, 16% accessed the Internet via cell phone, and 8% accessed the Web from a library - a significantly higher percentage than any other age group. Eighty-two percent of these consumers report that they are comfortable with new technologies, and more than one-third claim that they are among the first within their peer groups to buy the latest technology gadgets. In fact, 18 to 34 year-olds are significantly more likely than the average Internet user to own a number of digital devices. For example, 17% own an MP3 player (vs. 12%), and 48% own a video game console (vs. 32%). Let Net Entertain You! More than any other age group, 18 to 34 year olds consider the Internet to be one of the most important sources of entertainment available to them. They use the Internet both as a primary source of entertainment and as a resource for entertainment news and information. Forty percent use the Web to help choose a movie to watch (and to find out where/when its playing), while about one-third use it to view local restaurant and club listings. Astonishingly, on a daily basis, an average of 30% of all 18 to 34 year-old Internet users visit an entertainment Web site. That rivals the percentage who typically read the arts/entertainment section of the newspaper (32%) and exceeds the percentage who regularly read entertainment magazines (19%). Beyond just visiting entertainment and music sites, 18 to 34 year-olds are more likely to engage in downloading, sharing and burning music and videos online and are more avid consumers of online video content than any other age group. Mars and Venus: Gender Differences Play Out in Visitation Data Overall, entertainment-related sites, as well as the careers, personals and classifieds categories, show above-average visitation among 18 to 34 year olds regardless of gender. However, significant gender differences do exist within the 18-34 year old population when analyzing visitation data. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 18 to 34 year old females are disproportionately more likely to visit retail categories than the average Internet user. In fact, 10 of the 15 categories with the highest proportion of females 18 to 34 years old are retail categories. However, with a few interesting exceptions - namely tickets and consumer electronics - males 18 to 34 year-olds are focused on non-retail categories, such as gaming, automotive and sports. Further analysis of category data by gender can be found below. So Essential You Can Take It to the Bank While 18 to 34 year-olds spend less time at banking and personal finance sites that the average Internet user (due to the fact that they typically have fewer investments and products to manage), they report that they are actually more likely to bank online - that is, check their account balances, transfer money and pay loans online - compared to any other age group. Comfort with online banking among 18 to 34 year-olds extends into other financial activity as well. They are more likely to apply for credit online, use an online payment service, obtain a personal or car loan and purchase car