Perfect Housewife Anthea Turner is an expert at multi-tasking but even she was shocked to hear what some people do whilst using the internet according to a new survey. She spoke to Female First about toilet surfing, shopping for loo rolls and what she found in DJ Scott Mill's bedroom.
So tell us about this survey about people using the internet in strange places?
This is a survey that has been done by Vodafone at Home and it's quite an in depth survey and they've interviewed thousands of people and they've come up with, actually it's quite worrying really to see what people are doing whilst using the internet- from eating to being in bed to actually being on the loo funnily enough. The statistics vary around the country but as a general rule of thumb about 24% sometimes 30% are admitting to using the internet while on the loo- the mind boggles.What kind of things are people using the internet for?
Well I can't really be too specific about that but maybe if you ask the Female First users they might be able to tell us because we're really not quite sure. I'm thinking how do you do it. Do you balance the lap top on the sink, is it on your knee if it on the back of the sistern. It's quite an interesting one and quite frightening really. More interestingly we would like to know why 8% of people admit to using the internet while in bed with their partner. Do you think this obsessive use of the net is interfering with traditional family time?
Well I think generally speaking we are using the net because of wi-fi. There was a time that a PC was a great big huge thing that sat in a room of the house and you to go to it but it's very different now because you've got laptops that you can go anywhere with really.
I just think everything is a thing of balance. I'm a great believer in the internet. I think it's a great way of communicate. I love the fact that I can keep in touch with my friends using the internet. How many of us can say now that we don't need email. None of us. We are all completely addicted to email. Do you use the internet a lot yourself?
I do use it a lot myself and I think it helps us a lot domestically. It saves us time. There are lots of things that I don't have time to go shopping for but I can do it online on the internet. It means the shop is open 24 hours a day. It doesn't mean I can only do it between the hours of 9 and 5. I can do it when I've got time. What do you think this means for traditional high street stores?
I always say to people if it's bulky, boring or you can't get it on the local high street then get it on the internet but there are so many things that I want to have quality time to go and buy. I want to have quality time to buy food because I want to have time to look at that food. And I'm not talking about things in tins, I'm talking about meat and vegetables and nice freshly baked bread and things like that so I want to go and buy those. But I don't really want to be struggling in a car with the suspension down on the back because it's loaded with you know toilet rolls, cans of thing, bags of sugar, tea and coffee- you know all those basics that don't necessarily give you a huge amount of joy to buy but you know you have to get in.Would you say the internet can help you to become the perfect housewife?
I definitely think the internet is a tool that needs to be used within the home. I would say to people you should run your home like you would a little business. Be efficient about it. Most businesses run with a lap top and there's no reason why you cant make a laptop work for you around the home too. You can find out about local amenities and use it literally as the information highway or also as I said before- instead of making 4 trips to the shops just be able to make 2.Do you have plans for another series of Perfect Housewife?
The last series has just gone out and we've got another series in September which is called Help Me Anthea and then we're looking at doing another series after that.
You have been recently filming something called Help Me- I'm Infested. What's that like?
Yes as part of the Help Me Anthea the first three are Help Me- I'm Infested. It's about people who've got fleas and rats and mice and cockroaches and antsand all sorts of thing sthat are infesting their lives. It goes out from 26th September at 9pm. And these things have really debilitated many people's lives with some of these messes in their homes but I must say some people haven't really helped themselves.
And what was it like working with bugs and things like that?
I'm actually quite good with things like that. On Blue Peter you always ended up doing lots of things with rats and mice and animals and goodness knows what else so I'm not really squeamish.
Have you been up to anything else lately?
Well not really because I have my real life which is my furnishing company so I get on with that really when I'm not doing television.
You recently went for a snoop around Radio One DJ Scott Mills' bedroom live on air a few weeks ago. Did you find anything interesting there?
Yes I found lots of interesting things in Scott's bedroom. I think the delights of his bedside cabinet have been divulged in detail to many Radio One listeners. I think the 'How to Speak Arabic in 7 Days' tape was a very interesting find and I also found some very interesting lotions and potions which I don't want to go any further about. But it was a scene of devastation is all I can say when I entered his bedroom. It was definitely an unpleasant scene.
Vodafone UK commissioned the survey into the online habits of more than 1,000 adults across the UK. The Vodafone at Home broadband service launched earlier this year. It features up to 8Mb unlimited broadband access and landline to landline calls UK wide at any time for £14 plus £11 line a month for consumer contract customers.
Caz Moss- Female First
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