Some stay-at-home mums choose computer over children

With chores that need doing and noses that need wiping, stay-at-home mums have a lot on their plate, but are they spending too much time online?...

By Sally Griffith

11 January 2010 15:13

A quarter of stay-at-home mums say they spend more time online than with their children, according to a new study.

Of the 1,082 mums in the study by gaming competition website Winmonkey.co.uk, 483 were stay-at-home. One in four of these mums said they spend more time on the internet than they do quality time with their children.

The research revealed mums who stay at home spent an average of two and a quarter hours online a day and 41% of them spent more than three hours online a day.

Almost 80% said they spent more time surfing the web than they did doing household chores, including cooking.

The majority of time they spent online was on social networking sites and one in three of stay-at-home mums admitted that they used some form of instant messaging, such as MSN Messenger, every day.

Shopping sites are also popular, 16% of the mums said they spent most of their time on these and 3% said they surfed mainly on gossip sites. Nearly one in four said they spent most time online on gaming sites.

Sam Notaro, founder of by gaming competition website Winmonkey.co.uk said:

"Finding a balance between time spent online and other responsibilities is extremely important, and something we ask our users to be mindful of."

Help & Support
For more information on internet addiction visit Net Addiction

For more information on gambling addiction visit GamCare

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