Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics – The ConsumHERist
Posted on | January 15, 2009 | 1 Comment
by Delia Passi
Yesterday, the Gallop organization released a poll on the change in American adult Internet usage in the past year. Most of the results seem intuitive or unremarkable. Frequent usage, defined as over an hour online per day, rose by five percentage points from 43% to 48%. That’s not surprising given the increasing dependence upon the Internet to deliver so much of the seeming essentials of life.
I am, however, baffled by the statistical difference between men and women. Men increased their frequent usage by nine points, to 53%, while women only increased their frequent usage by one point to 42%. Huh? What’s up with that?
I have struggled to find an acceptable explanation for this. Here are a few ideas:
- Women are now too busy texting and talking on the phone to use the Internet
- A significant transgender shift that has gone unreported in the media
- A sudden improvement in the quality and/or availability of porn
- Men are now unable to measure another thing accurately
- Women have taken on second jobs in 2008 to make ends meet
- Elderly men who never use the Internet weren’t answering their phones
- Women are too busy on the Internet to take surveys
Okay, maybe it’s not any one of these, by itself at least. Gallop doesn’t provide any more info on gender differences than at an overall level, so the reason is elusive.
Two other statistics do get my attention. The age groups of 18-29 and over 65 increased by 12 points and 9 points respectively, whereas the 30-49 and 50-64 groups were down 2 points and unchanged. The increase in the over 65 groups seems rational as this group is likely to be slower to adopt new technology and they are just catching up. This leads me to wonder if young men have found something so much more interesting in 2008 than 2007. Is it some kind of game playing? Is it online video?
I don’t know. Do you? Maybe the numbers are just wrong.
Delia Passi, Founder of WomenCertified® and author of Winning the Toughest Customer: The Essential Guide to Selling to Women is a regular columnist on ReachingWomenDaily.
Tags: gallup poll > Internet usage
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One Response to “Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics – The ConsumHERist”
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January 19th, 2009 @ 10:28 am
Love your explanations Delia.
As usually happens with these types of surveys, I’d love more information. What exactly do they mean by “Internet usage”?
I have a pet theory I’ll share. In times of stress – men often retreat to their “man caves” to deal with their fear/problems on their own. Stressed women tend to reach out to others for bonding.
Perhaps guys are finding more stress release/escape in the more private online arena.
Perhaps women are reaching out for more human interactions.
That said, studies have shown that with social media (think communication vehicles like blogs, Facebook, Twitter) women are the majority users and that number is continuing to rise. But that may also fit in with my theory that women, more than ever, are reaching out to find connections.
Either that or you could be on to something with the porn thing.