Internet - the new potting shed?

Twenty per cent of men confessed to moving the computer to the spare room so they can surf in peace, according to a recent survey.

Sixteen per cent owned up to swapping between browsers so their ladies couldn't check back through their history files to see where they'd been on their virtual travels.

Women are trying to get in on the action too, but they're having a tough time wrestling the mouse out of their menfolks' hands. Seventy per cent of people who answered the survey said the men spend most time online, squeezing out their partners.

When they do get online, though, girls tend to look for info about supposedly 'male' things, such as DIY and buying cars. The men tend to go after a different set of classic male interest - girls, games and gambling.

Sixty one per cent of respondents think the internet is popular because it allows men to do things they wouldn't like their partners to know about - like shopping for dodgy goods and chasing strange ladies.

A surprising 67 per cent of females thought the boys were using the web to flirt anonymously with other women - but it's not clear who they're really flirting with, if the nation's girls can't get near a modem...

The survey was organised by a new fortnightly magazine called Web User, and carried out by PhoneBus, who canvassed over 500 adults from across the country.