Mothers Are Armed With Technology

June 26, 2009 by tanya
Filed under: News

According to a survey carried out by Babycenter, mothers are now using social-networking tools more than ever in the last three years.

Over 25,000 mothers responded to the survey, with 63 percent admitting that they used Facebook, Twitter and blogs. This compares to just 11 percent of mothers in 2006.

Almost a third of the mothers also said that they used the Internet more after giving birth. Around 44 percent of the woman said that they regularly watched TV before the birth, but this fell to 7 percent after the baby arrived.

Mothers were also found to be more likely to visit sites which were focused around parenthood and children than on mainstream sites such as Facebook. Over 68 percent of mothers said they would visit sites such as Babycenter, CafeMom and Babychums.

One of the main reasons mothers gave for using social networking more was to connect with other parents online.

Tina Sharkey, chairman of BabyCenter, said “Participating in social media as a mom is not the same as hooking up with your camp friends,”

“It’s about finding the moms who can really support your journey.”

Sharkey then gave an example of the responses people gave on different sites. When asked how to tell your child the truth about the tooth fairy, responses on sites such as Facebook were more sarcastic: “What do you mean? There is no tooth fairy? Wait a minute, I was never told about this.”

On parenting sites, responses were often given using real life past experience, such as: “As they get older and go to school, they figure it out on their own”

High numbers of mothers were also found to use smart phones (36% own), PDAs (16%) and mobile phones - with 91 percent saying that they would never leave home without one.

Mothers are also more likely to use digital cameras or home videos to record their family memories. Around 93 percent own a digital camera, and 15 percent have a blog about their family.