Women are from cyber-Venus

I just half read an article on the front page of today’s paper that was entitled Women are from cyber-Venus. It basically said men use to the internet to find things to do, women use it to find people to talk to. So, that’s news to someone? I guess blogging fills both needs. If it didn’t, blogs would be predominantly authored by women, and when I blog-hop, that’s not what I see. Some of the best, most riveting, funniest, most entertaining blogs are written by guys.

Okay…time out… I just choked on my own saliva. How crazy is that? You know, when you somehow breathe in the saliva that you meant to swallow and you go into a coughing frenzy trying to clear your trachea of the unwelcome liquid making its way toward your lungs? Wow… thought I was going to die.

My cat, who was lounging on my lap as I awkwardly tried to type on my laptop as it sat on the arm of the sofa, instead of my lap where SHE was sitting, is now sitting next to me glaring at me, twitching her tail, as if I had this near-death episode just to get her off my lap. I admit, there have been times I’ve been tempted to have some sort of seizure or other seemingly uncontrollable fit as a way of removing her from my lap.

You see, we have this routine. Ali, the queen of the house, our 8 year-old calico, sits on the back of the sofa waiting for me to get home from work. I come in the door, do the usual coming-home-from-work stuff – dump my purse and keys, bring in the paper and mail, take off my Uggs and put on my slippers – and then usually make my way toward the other sofa (the reclining leather one) so I can start blogging. The minute I sit down, she runs to the foot of the sofa and sits, waiting. I open the laptop, sit down, and get the Mexican blanket I use to keep the chill off, pull out the recliner – and then she makes her move. She jumps up into my lap. I dare not try to remove her or she will bite the living heck out of me. Since her declawing (see post) she bites more than ever. I guess it’s her way of getting even with me.

Not only does she insist on sitting right in the middle of my lap, she sticks her face right in mine. I cringe, waiting. It’s only a matter of time before she takes a chunk out of my cheek or nose. I usually put my hand up between her face and mine, just in case. She’ll sit like this, in my lap, as I reach over her to type on my crazily located laptop, until she gets good and ready to leave. Sometimes that can be half an hour.

I know, I’m nuts. I should just give her a shove and send her flying off my lap. I’m too nice. I actually adore this little furball. When she’s not next to me at night in bed, curled into the small of my back, I find it difficult to fall asleep. When Jonathan is home from school, his bed is her preferred sleeping spot, so unless he shuts his door to keep her from bugging him all night, she sleeps with him. I hate it. I miss her little warm body. It’s amazing how heavy a 12-pound cat is when they’re sleeping. She’s a real bed hog too. But I love it.

Anyway, my coughing fit scared her, and made her mad. She’s flicking her tail back and forth like a bull whip. Maybe I should be very afraid.

So, back to the article. My first inclination is to disagree. I use the internet to find stuff I need to know – for work, personally, whatever. I don’t IM like all the kids do, I don’t play games (though I have been known to do a Sudoku puzzle now and then), and I don’t visit chat sites. But I do blog, love reading other blogs (well-written ones or those of family or friends), commenting on blogs I read, and “meeting” people via the blogs. So, I suppose that does fit the premise to a certain extent. But I spend most of my internet time researching things. That occupies far more of my time than does blogging or blog hopping.

So, here is the story:

Women are from cyber-Venus …
Gender differences translate to Internet
Victor GodinezDallas Morning NewsDecember 29, 2005

DALLAS – Men spend their time on the Internet looking for stuff to do. Women look for people to talk to.

These are among the main findings to emerge from a series of surveys released Wednesday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Deborah Fallows, a senior research fellow with Pew, said that men and women have become equally adept at navigating the Internet. "Beyond that, there seems to be a little of a fork in the road," she said. "Men are more action-oriented, and women are more communication-oriented."

Men go online more often and spend more time on the Internet. For example, men are more likely to check sports news (59 vs. 27 percent of online women), get financial information (56 vs. 33 percent), download software (48 vs. 31 percent) or participate in an auction (30 vs. 18 percent). Men (42 percent) are also more likely to pay bills online than women (35 percent).

Women lead in other areas, such as sending e-mail (94 vs. 88 percent). And 74 percent of women look up health and medical information online, compared with 58 percent of men.

"Right now, online life mirrors off-line life very closely," said Fallows, the report's author. "I was surprised at that. I was looking really hard to find counter trends and just find things that either broke the stereotype or changed what you typically believe."

Online retailers and other vendors should pay attention to the findings, Fallows said. She said, for example, that when shopping in clothing stores, women often chat with one another in the dressing room, looking for tips and opinions. For an online retailer catering to women, building a message board or chat room into the site might allow similar interactions.

"If you were a savvy Web designer and had this stuff in mind, you might make some of the shopping experience more tailored," Fallows said.

One finding that Fallows said was somewhat counterintuitive was that a greater percentage of women ages 18 to 29 are online than men that age: 86 percent vs. 80 percent.

"Technology doesn't seem to be an impediment for the youngest women the way it is for older women," she said. "They've grown up with it."

The report included data from a variety of surveys conducted from 2000 to 2005, and the margin of error ranges between 2 and 3 percentage points.

Interesting…. I am very atypical. I’ve been paying bills online since my bank first offered it over 5 years ago. I get financial information online, download software (usually work related, though often not), and I participate in my fair share of auctions, especially when it comes to college textbooks. My husband also atypical. He hates computers, has zero interest in the internet unless he wants ME to look something up for him, and is freaked out about blogging, email, and “online friends” (his term). In fact, he’s so weird about my “internet friends” that he doesn’t even know I have a blog. He thinks it’s weird that I read my son’s college friends’ blogs. I guess it’s something he can’t control so he doesn’t like it. Anyway, interesting article.

Gotta go check the crock pot. Got something delicious brewing! :)