Chinese youth are flocking to the internet to circumvent the barriers posed by everyday life with over 60% stating that they have a "parallel life" online, according to a new study.
The report, called Young Digital Mavens, compares digital habits among the youth in America and China - the countries with the two biggest online populations globally.
While 61% of the Chinese respondents, who had an average age of just over 20, agreed with the statement "I have a parallel life online", only 13% of Americans said the same.
And as for the blog revolution just 16% of American respondents said they were regular visitors; compared to huge popularity among young Chinese web users with over 50% stating they are regular visitors to blogs.
The study found that the biggest blog readers are young Chinese women - 55% compared to 49% of men.
The study, carried out by Barry Diller's IAC and ad agency network JWT, found that while youth in both countries feel dependent on digital technology this attitude is massively more pronounced in China.
"One of the biggest differences between American and Chinese youth is in attitudes toward anonymity," says Tom Doctoroff, chief executive of JWT Greater China and North East Asia area director. "In the US, with its cult of celebrity, young Americans see the internet as a way of getting known, of building their personal brand, many regard the internet as a kind of personal broadcasting medium".
In the US fewer than half of those surveyed (43%) agreed that "I often use the internet to find the opinions of others or to share my opinions".
However in the more tricky political climate of China, 73% of respondents said they go online to share opinions.
The Chinese respondents were almost twice as likely as Americans to agree that it's good to be able to express honest opinions anonymously online - 79% versus 42% respectively - and to agree that online they are free to do and say things they would not do or say offline - 73% versus 32%.
"Whereas publicizing your name, face and opinions is seen as a step toward success in the US, in China it has been a surefire way of veering into dangerous territory," added Doctoroff. "For young Chinese, the internet is the ideal place to air opinions and hear what others think without crossing the line".
However, along with this love of the internet more than 40% of Chinese youth admitted that they sometimes feel "addicted" to living online, compared to just 18% of Americans.
A quarter of Chinese surveyed said that they would not be OK if internet access was cut for more than a day.
Doctoroff argues that while young Americans see the internet as an "incremental increase" in the options they enjoy in life, for Chinese new media represents a "steep increase" in freedom.
This freedom translates into strong emotional connections with various activities online.
82% of the of the Chinese surveyed said the internet helped created intimacy, something only 36% of Americans thought.
And a third of Chinese said that the internet had "broadened their sex life".
With an online population of almost 140m, according to a report in July from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, understanding the web habits of Chinese users - and how they differ to more-established Western habits - is key for marketers, retailers and technology companies.
"The Chinese people seem to be way ahead of Americans in living a digital life," noted IAC chairman and chief executive Diller. "Like many other areas in comparing Americans to the energy and progress elsewhere in the world, China's speedy evolution in its use of the internet is fast eclipsing that of the US".
