UK adults now spend the equivalent of an entire day every week online. We’ll just let that sink in for a moment.
A new report by Ofcom has revealed figures on how the UK population accesses the internet and why from entertainment such as Netflix to looking on Twitter to find out new opinions on the topics we’re most interested in.
Nine in ten adults in the UK now have access to the internet - including 96 per cent of those under the age of 55.
Search engines like Google are still the most popular destination for many of us when we’re trying to learn something new, however what Ofcom has noticed is a sharp increase in the amount of people who actually go to YouTube first.
It will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that our favoured medium of accessing the internet is through our smartphones.
This becomes even more apparent when you consider that on average, 16-24 year olds spend a staggering 34 hours online every single week.
Continuing this trend that same age group said that their smartphone would be the one device they would miss the most while for those over the age of 55 that device is their TV.
What’s perhaps just as interesting though is how we’re using the internet whether it’s for social media or keeping abreast of the latest news.
According to the report, users who like using social media are now more likely to use WhatsApp than they are to use Facebook. This goes even further with more people saying that WhatsApp represents their online profile more than say their Facebook profile.
Despite the phenomenon that is online fake news, Ofcom’s report highlights a really interesting trend in how we still consume our news.
“People say they would turn first to the TV for each type of news they value. The exception is those who value an alternative viewpoint, who say they would turn first to social media.” explains the report.
Despite that almost 80% of us value the fact that we can now pick up our phones and consume the news whenever we want.
Finally, and perhaps on a slightly more positive note is the fact that despite all the negativity that can come with being constantly connected, the vast majority of us believe that the benefits of the internet still far outweigh any negatives.