Britons spend a day online a week but are making less phone calls, study finds

Brits spend a whole day a week online, a new study has shown
Lucia Binding2 August 2018

A fifth of UK adults spend more than 40 hours a week online, with most saying they are dependent on their digital devices, an Ofcom report has found.

On average, people are spending 24 hours online a week, twice as long as 10 years go.

Users need constant connection to the internet and check their smartphones every 12 minutes of the day on average, the report says.

Most people said they expect an internet connection wherever they go, with 64 per cent of adults describing it as an essential part of life.

It means that they are online for an average of three hours and 26 minutes a day – a typically longer amount than they would spend watching television.

Women spend more time online than men, the report found

This is partly due to the rise in use by people aged 16 to 24, who average 34.3 hours a week online.

For the first time, women are spending more time online than men following the flare-up of social media – spending half an hour a week longer on the internet than men of the same age.

The amount of time spent making phone calls from mobile phones has fallen as users increasingly turn to online messaging services such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Total outgoing calls on mobiles dropped by 2.5 billion minutes in 2017.

Significant numbers of people think being online has a negative impact on their lives, however, with 15 per cent saying it makes them feel they are always at work, Ofcom found.

Around 54 per cent also admitted that their devices disrupted real life interaction with friends and family.

"Over the last decade, people's lives have been transformed by the rise of the smartphone, together with better access to the internet and new services,” Ian Macrae, Ofcom’s director of market intelligence said.

"But while people appreciate their smartphone as their constant companion, some are finding themselves feeling overloaded when online, or frustrated when they're not,” he added.

The study found that the older and generations fail to disagree on smartphone etiquette in social situations, with many admitting that the way they behave in public on their phones is unacceptable “in principle”.

Around 62 per cent of people older than 55 are most likely to object to people using their phone while watching television with others, compared with 21 per cent of those younger.

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