Middle-aged men hog the internet

Europe's new net addicts have been revealed - and they're not bright young things.

A survey says it is middle aged men who are ousting the teenagers to hog the computer for banking and other services.

You may think of heavy internet users as geeks and teenagers who spend long hours slaving before the screen, but new research says Western Europe's heaviest net users are moneyed, middle-aged and male.

The latest snapshot of online life reveals the average person is also logging on for longer.

One of the biggest growth area is online travel, with companies like discount airline Ryan Air performing strongly.

The researchers predict buying your holidays and travel on the web will be a market worth IR£3.5b within four years.