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Survey: Young Germans prefer Web to spouses

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-03 11:38

BEIJING -- A survey shows that German twenty-somethings can't bear life without Web when asked to choose among choices of living without their spouses, or Internet access or mobile phones, according to media reports Tuesday.

In a survey by German broadband association Bitkom, 98 percent people said they found useful information online, and around 84 percent of respondents aged 19-29 said they would rather do without their current partner or an automobile than forego their connection to the Web.

Related readings:  China issues first definition of Internet addiction  One tenth of young netizens suffers Internet addiction

"People under 30 would rather do without their cars or their current partners than the Internet or their mobiles," Bitkom president August-Wilhelm Scheer said.

But he insisted that the Web "creates real relationships and does not result in autism and dehumanization."

He said one in two people taking part in the survey admitted they had made new friends thanks to chat forums and Internet communities. Around 8 percent said they had found a new partner thanks to online relations.

Nearly a third of respondents said social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace and their German equivalents had helped them expand their circle of friends.

"Our study shows that the Web is not an anonymous medium that leads to coldness in society," Scheer said.