Online media use influenced by our genes: study

Researchers from King's College London say online media use such as social networking, instant messaging and playing games for entertainment and education could be strongly influenced by our genes.

Genetic factors were found to influence time spent on all types of media including entertainment (37 per cent) and educational (34 per cent) media, online gaming (39 per cent) and social networking (24 per cent).

According to the study people were not passively exposed to media; rather people tailored their online media use based on their own unique genetic predispositions - a concept known as gene-environment correlation.

"The DNA differences substantially influence how individuals interact with the media and puts the consumer in the driver's seat for selecting and modifying their media exposure according to their needs," said lead author Ziada Ayorech from King's College London.

"Our findings contradict popular media effects theories, which typically view the media as an external entity that has some effect -- either good or bad -- on 'helpless' consumers," Ayorech added.

Additionally, unique environmental factors such as one sibling having a personal mobile phone and the other not, or parents monitoring use of social networks more heavily for one sibling as compared to the other, accounted for over two-thirds of the differences between people in online media use.

In the study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, online media use of over 8,500 16-year-old twins was condidered.

The study compared identical twins – who shared 100 per cent of their genes with non-identical twins– who shared only half their genes.

According to Ofcom's latest figures, youngsters aged between five and 15 now spent about 15 hours each week online more than the time they spend watching TV.