By Anhar Khanbhai

On the back of a recent US study claiming social networking sites are more addictive than alcohol or cigarettes, an Australian survey has revealed that 30% of internet users check Facebook five or more times a day.

The Canstar Blue survey of 1,241 Internet users revealed 27% of respondents were so attached to their Facebook accounts they checked them at least five times a day.

“Generation Y respondents topped the Facebook addiction charts, with a high 56% excessively attached to their Facebook account, compared with 39% of Generation X and a modest 13% of Baby Boomer respondents,” Manager of Canstar Blue Rebecca Logan said.

Females were only slightly more likely to obsess over their Facebook account than males, with 29% checking in five or more times a day compared with 25% of males.

“There are many positive aspects to Facebook use, including an increased sense of community through contact with family, friends and prospective new friends. However, when people are checking Facebook this many times a day it starts to become a time burglar and eat into other work and recreational commitments.”

The survey also proved the term ‘silver surfers’ was coined for a reason, with 50% of internet users from the Baby Boomer generation spending more than three hours a day online outside of work.

“The over 50s market is undoubtedly amongst the fastest growing demographics online, and these results show the Boomer generation of internet users is only slightlybehind Generation Y when it comes to hours spent online outside of work.”

The Canstar Blue survey showed 49% of Baby Boomer respondents spent more than three hours a day online outside of work compared with 61% of Generation Y respondents and 49% of Generation X respondents.

“Baby Boomers lived up to their cautious reputation, with 9% regularly downloading music and videos they didn’t pay for. These numbers were far lower than the 44% of Generation Y and 26% of Generation X respondents who admitted to the same regular habit.”

19% of Internet users surveyed admitted to regularly downloading music and videos they hadn’t purchased.

Perth-based challenger brand Westnet took out the title of Canstar Blue’s second Broadband Customer Satisfaction Award, beating major players Telstra BigPond, TPG, Optus and iPrimus, Dodo, iiNet and Internode.

Westnet topped the charts according to its customers in the categories of overall satisfaction, value for money, tech support, reliability and billing. It tied first place for speed and download quote value for money.