Health Portals get more hits in 2005 than online radio and TV

This figure is higher than those Internet surfers who listened to the radio or watched television online – 28.1%. However, the main function of the Web is for searching for information on goods and services. Of those who do not use the Net, 23.4% believe it has dangerous or harmful content.

These are some of the figures from the 2005 Family Information and Communication Technologies Use survey that was conducted by the National Statistics Institute (INE) in conjunction with The Knowledge Society Agency, I.P. (UMIC).

According to the study, Internet use rose 27.8% between 2002 and 2005. Thus, in the first quarter of this year, 42.5% of households owned a computer and 31.5% have access to the Net from home. The INE survey was based on direct interviews carried out between April and May 2005 on 6026 households with mainland Portugal and the islands as their main residence. It shows that the majority (63%) have a broadband Internet connection and access the Net from home (61% against 48% in the workplace).

Students are the group that accesses the Internet the most (94.5%). By age bracket, seven out of ten 16 to 24-year olds use the Internet. This ratio drops to five in ten in the 25 to 34 age bracket. Lisbon is the region that uses the Internet the most, with the Azores at the other end of the scale.

USES. This year, searching for information outweighed sending and receiving emails, reversing the trend recorded 2004. In this way, 80.8% of users surfed to find information while 80.5% did so to manage their email. However, the biggest leap recorded in 2005 was in consulting health information, which has now gained its very own category. Last year, this heading was 18.9% of people’s favourite, increasing to 31.3% in 2005.

The other categories studied retained similar figures to those in the previous study. Reading and downloading newspapers and magazines online rose from 50.2% to 51.3%. Online radio and television saw a slight upward curve from 27.5% to 28.1%.

BUYING Roughly 12% of internet surfers bought items online. The most sought-after products were books, magazines, newspapers and e-learning material (32.5%), followed by films and music (25.4%) and concert and show tickets (23.6%). Looking at the number for 2004, the biggest increases were recorded in searching for sports clothes and equipment (from 12.9% in 2004 to 19.2% in 2005), concert and show tickets (from 17.7% to 23.6%) and films/music (from 20.7% to 25.4%). The biggest drop was in travel and accommodation (from 18.0% to 16.2%).

OUTSIDE. Individuals without access to the Net justify this by saying they do not think it is useful or interesting (58%), or due to the high cost of the equipment (53.5%) or that they do not know how to use it (52%). Of these people, 23.4% do not want to have the Internet at home because they fell that its content is dangerous or harmful.

According to the study, among users, the majority are self-taught when it comes to using the Web and computers (84.6%) or are helped by family and friends (83.5%).