Last year, according to the consumer consultancy Understanding and Solutions, British people captured 6bn images.
And those kids (or their parents) will pay: worldwide, the market for headphones will be worth over £5bn ($8bn) this year, with 284m units shipped, according to the consumer consultancy Futuresource; over-ear headphones grabbed half of sales.
A study published this week by Intersperience, a British-based consumer research consultancy, found that 70 percent of British teenagers chatted on Facebook, while six out of 10 said they would feel "sad" if they were deprived of access to the Internet.
J.C. Penney still ranks third, behind Macy's and Sears, in department-store customer loyalty, said Dr. Robert Pasikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys, a brand and consumer loyalty consultancy.
At the grocery store, they give generic brands a chance but will also pay more for organic or local foods, the Hartman Group consumer trends consultancy found.
"Most consumers don't have true networks at home; they're only divvying up their internet access," says Kurt Scherf at Parks Associates, a consumer-technology consultancy.
Only 32% of American households with internet access polled by Parks Associates, a consumer-technology consultancy, said they were "comfortable" with their PC becoming an entertainment system.
Parks Associates, a consumer-technology consultancy, estimates that 10m American households already have a digital video recorder".Segmentation", an advertising trend during the past two decades tied to fragmentation in the media, represents only a cosmetic change, thinks Mr Tobaccowala.
Consultancies, consumer product and tech companies, as well as boutique financial firms, have been particularly keen to fill the gap.
According to KSA Technopak, a consultancy, discretionary consumer spending grew at an annual rate of 12% in 2002.
"People expect to be able to get food from a wider variety of sources now," comments Jo Allison, a consumer behavioural analyst at consultancy Canvas8.
