Where Moms Are - On the Web Now

Parents are among the highest users of the Internet

May 6, 2008

Nearly nine in 10 parents are now online, which is a much higher rate than in households without children, according to eMarketer Newsletter.

In October 2007, the US Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration found that 86.5 percent of households consisting of a married couple with children under the age of 18 had Internet access either at home or in some other location.

Similarly, a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey conducted in late 2006 found that 87 percent of all parents use the Internet.

In comparison, in family households without children, the Internet access rate was just 73.1 percent, reported the Department of Commerce. And among non-family households, only 58.5 percent had Internet access.

Among the highest rates of Internet access and usage are among soon-to-be mothers, according to Experian Consumer Research, which reported from a 2007 survey that the Internet usage rate at 94 percent among women who expected to have their first or second child in the next year.

So how many mothers are online total? Two different surveys came up with estimates very close to each other, at a little more than 30 million.

According to Nielsen Online @Plan, there were 32.4 million women online with children under 18 in their household as of winter 2007/2008, making up 22.6 percent of all adult Internet users.

And comScore Media Metrix, measuring a slightly different population, estimated that in December 2007 there were 30.1 million women online who were between the ages of 25 and 54 and had one or more children at home. These women made up 16.4 percent of all US Internet users during that month.

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