An extensive academic study of internet use shows that the majority of Canadians are heavy internet users and consider the net to be a growing and integral part of their lives.

The Canadian Internet Project (CIP) said its survey showed that 56 per cent of all Canadians are online at least seven hours a week, with the average Canadian user online 13.5 hours each week.

More than 80 per cent of all Canadians (users and non-users combined), have been online at some point. The study also suggested that a majority of Canadians in lower income families reported having access to the internet.

The first CIP survey is part of the Worldwide Internet Project, which is a consortium of research centres in more than 20 countries. Researchers are carrying out a comparative analysis of behavior and attitudes of internet users and non-users around the world.

The survey goes far beyond simply asking whether or how often people use the net. It tries to find out how the internet is being integrated into people's lives.

"The emergence of new, internet-based digital content and distribution channels is influencing social, political, cultural and economic behavior and ideas everywhere," said CIP co-director Charles Zamaria, who is also a professor at Ryerson University.

"We believe that by studying the internet and other emerging technologies as they develop over time, we can better understand their implications for society," he said.

The study found that the internet supplements traditional media like newspapers and magazines, rather than replacing them.

It also disputed the notion that surfing is supplanting book reading.

"Internet users appear to engage more in some traditional media activities than do non-users, including reading books, listening to music and using the cell phone," the study said.

Among the other findings:

• Most people in the Canadian survey said internet use had not affected their television viewing habits. But researchers found that Canadian internet users watched, on average, 3.7 hours less television per week than non-users.

• Almost three-quarters of all internet users said the internet had reduced their use of the telephone.

• Canadians spend twice as much time surfing for information than for entertainment (6.1 hours versus 3.3 hours weekly).

• More than 9 in 10 internet users use e-mail with the average Canadian user spending four hours a week reading and writing e-mails.

• Among internet users, 65 per cent say they access news sites at least once a week, with one-third accessing news sites every day. Among Canadian English-speaking users, the top news sites mentioned were MSN, Yahoo, and CBC.ca. Among French-speaking users, the top three sites for news were Radio-Canada (the French-language service of the CBC), MSN and Canoe.

• Most Canadians report little awareness of Canadian cultural content on the internet while fewer than a third of Canadians are satisfied with the quality, quantity and accessibility of Canadian cultural content online.
• A majority (52 per cent) of Canadian internet users had made purchases online. That's the highest found in any of the worldwide surveys.

The findings of the Canadian Internet Project are based on a telephone survey of more than 3,000 Canadians carried out in May and June 2004. The survey will be conducted every two years.