Mum's the word online

British mothers are emerging as the rulers of home internet, a study has found, often using suspension of web rights as a way to control their childen.

The Demos and AOL research, based on a six-month in-depth anthropological study of five UK families combined with nationwide polling, shows mothers 'rule the roost' when it comes to the internet.

The study found:

Almost half of online women move the computer into the front room to better integrate it into home life, with four-fifths using it as a substitute for the phone to regularly keep in touch with family and friends.

Women with a computer in the household turn out to be regularly "up for IT" at all hours of the day, with half logging on before breakfast and a fifth getting up in the middle of the night to access the internet. Bargain hunting through online auction sites, and a desire to keep up to date with gossip were the top reasons provided.

A third of mothers from British households accompany their children online to assist with homework or to play. Loss of Internet privileges - or "e-grounding" - was found to be an effective punishment for children in some of the families involved in the research.

Two thirds of women were found to research their family's health online.