Majority Of Kids Play Online Games

The percentage of boys and girls who played online games was almost the same, 77 percent vs. 78 percent respectively. Boys were more likely to go online to find "cheats" for their gaming. Twenty-five percent of boys versus 5 percent of girls say they went online to get cheats for their gaming.

Other popular online activities among children are doing homework (34%); listening to music (28%); watching videos (26%). Girls are more likely than boys to have listened to music online in the past 30 days (33% vs. 24%). Boys are slightly more likely than girls to have watched videos online (28% vs. 23%).

Twenty-nine percent of children have their own email addresses. A larger percentage of girls than boys (32% vs. 26%) report they have their own email address.

"Online gaming is clearly firmly entrenched as a pastime in the lives of most American kids," said Anne Marie Kelly, Vice President of Marketing & Strategic Planning at MRI.

"The wide gap between the percentage of boys and girls using cheats could suggest boys are more engaged with their games, an insight of interest to marketers targeting kids. Moreover, the level of personal e-mail addresses among kids speaks to how dramatically e-mail has changed, and will continue to change, the way we communicate."