From...

August 18, 1999
Web posted at: 11:08 a.m. EDT (1508 GMT)

by Liane Gouthro

(IDG) -- Summer is typically a time when more people are outside -- away from the TV, away from the computer. Or so you would think.

A Neilsen/NetRatings study of average Web usage statistics for July found people spent more time online, not less.

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The average overall time spent online increased 10 percent from May to July, according to the study. The average time increased from seven hours, 11 minutes during May to seven hours, 45 minutes during July.

The biggest increase was among teens -- ages 12 to 17. They spent an average of seven hours, four minutes online in July, compared with five hours, 42 minutes in May -- a 33 percent increase.

Surprising? Maybe not, says Peggy O'Neill, a senior Internet analyst with NetRatings who notes that teens want to stay in touch with their friends while they are on vacation. What better way to do that than by e-mail or chats?

As for the Web sites that saw a notable increase in unique visitors in July, health care sites accounted for two of the top five. Onlinepsych.com (an iVillage site), saw an increase of 106 percent; and the Mayo Health Clinic increased its unique visitors by 61 percent.

Again, O'Neill says these findings are not surprising.

"Summer is also a time when people are more prone to think about their bodies -- think swimsuits -- and long daylight hours allow more outdoor activity. So consciousness about health in general goes up," she notes.

Other notable findings in the month of July included a sharp increase in visits to news sites, including CBS, The New York Times on the Web, and CNN.com. Most likely due to the Kennedy plane crash, this spike will probably not have lasting consequences on the traffic to these sites, O'Neill says. "It usually takes some prolonged event -- think Gulf War and CNN -- for people to change their surfing habits," she adds.