Israel Internet users mostly men; 32 percent say they’re addicted

The survey, conducted among 900 users during the second half of September, also found that 37 percent of users are hooked up via Netvision, 23 percent through Internet Zahav, and the rest by IBM, Actcom, Aquanet, and others. Netscape is a much more popular Web browser among users than Internet Explorer.

Surprisingly, 40 percent of those surveyed have a "positive attitude" toward advertising on the Web and only 19 percent oppose it.

As to the most popular sites, 72 percent favor science sites, 45 percent chat groups, 43 percent innovations, 40 percent games and 33 percent news. Only 25 percent admitted to going into sex sites on the Web.

Young people generally start surfing from the age of 12; 37 percent of Internet users are aged 13 to 17, while 35 percent are 18 to 34; 22 percent are 35 to 55 and over.

Nearly half of adult users are wage-earners, followed by 22 percent students and soldiers and only 11 percent self-employed. Not surprisingly, 80 percent of users grade their grasp of English as good to excellent, and only 14 percent moderate and 5 percent poor. Over 88 percent of users call themselves secular Jews, while 10 percent are traditional and just 2 percent are religious or haredim.