While the above chart indicates that moms are using a wide range of mainstream and developing media, the age of the mom and the age of the child play a big role in how they use it. The study found that women under 35 use technology more for communicating with friends and strangers with similar interests whereas moms over 45 use it more for information about what is going in the world and what is going on in their child's world. 47% of Digital Moms with a child over the age of 12 that use social networking sites do it to monitor their child's online behavior! (While this seems high, it is significantly lower than the 72% of parents that admitted to spying on their kids' online activity in another study.)
Similarly, the topics of content researched or items purchased online in the last 30 days varies by age. Overall, 40% selected Fashion/Clothing, 31% selected Food/Cooking and 26% selected Baby/Parenting. However, women with children under the age of 5 were significantly more likely to select Baby/Parenting 46%.
This survey highlights some interesting facts about the behavior of moms online, however I think it would be more eye opening to breakdown the data even further by the age of the child to determine at which point of a child's development a mother begins to prioritize herself again. I would assume that among moms of children under the age of 2, the percent that have read or purchased Baby/Parenting items in the last 30 days would increase dramatically and that less than a few percent would have free time to be gaming. From what I've seen, they're too busy running after the toddler or trying to catch up on sleep!
Fascinating stuff. What interests me about the "Youth Moms" and these studies is the Webkinz factor. Lots of children 10 and under are using kids-focused social networks like Penguin Club, Webkinz, etc. That generation may be the first growing up knowing only a social networked world, where connecting with playmates via these sites (or even by gaming through a WiFI-enabled Wii or GameCube) is part of normal communications. How does a modern parent keep track of all these outlets?
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