UK"s telecom regulator Ofcom (Office of Communication) has supplied new data about what people do online and how much time they spend browsing the internet. In its Online Nation 2024 report, the agency revealed that UK adults spend an average of 4 hours and 20 minutes daily on the internet using devices like smartphones, computers, and tablets.
Almost half of the time UK adults spend online daily is on services owned by Meta or Alphabet. The latter has the biggest footprint, as virtually all online adults (99%) visit at least one of its services every day. YouTube alone is visited by around 94% of online adults, with an average screen time of 49 minutes per day.
On the other hand, all of Meta"s top three services (Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram) combined are frequented visited by about 70% of UK online adults. Meanwhile, about 91% of online adults visit Facebook and Messenger each day, with an average of 39 minutes spent.
While adults might spend about 16% of their day online, the younger Britons aged between 18 to 24 take the lead with a daily average of 6 hours and 1 minute. Senior citizens aged 65 and above spend an average of 3 hours and 10 minutes online.
With that said, the internet time of UK online adults has increased by about 18% compared to last year, when it was 3 hours and 41 minutes. The latest report notes that women across all ages spend more time online than men.
While the internet keeps us connected to the world, about two-thirds (67%) of online adults think that, for them, the "benefits of being online outweigh the risks." The percentage of people who think that way has decreased from 71% in 2023, but only 40% of adults feel that the internet is good for society.
Compared to older people, young adults are less likely to agree that they have a good balance between their online and offline lives. The report found that being online can help adults with opportunities for connection, education, and creativity. About 72% of adults could learn a new skill, and 77% said internet access broadened their understanding or view of the world.
One of Ofcom"s surveys shows that children"s concerns about growing online time increases with age. About 35% of 8 to 9-year-olds and 51% of 13 to 15-year-olds reported concerns about their time spent on at least one service type.
Almost half of the children are also worried about the mental and physical health effects of too much internet usage. Speaking of harms, misinformation registered its presence, and about 39% of users aged 13+ reported seeing something that made them feel uncomfortable, upset or negative in the last four weeks (June 2024).
While services have increased their efforts to verify user age, the report notes that one in five 8 to 15-year-olds misreported their age as at least 18 on a social media platform. On the internet, teen boys are more likely to come across content that shows dangerous stunts. Meanwhile, teen girls might see potential harms relating to body image.
Google remains the undefeated winner in the search engine category, and ChatGPT has bagged the top spot in the race for the most popular generative AI tool. Many people who use a generative AI tool use it for "finding information or content," however, a minority has second thoughts about reliability.
Reddit has become the fastest-growing platform in the social media space in the UK, with a year-over-year growth of 47%, and reached over half of UK online adults by June 2024. Meanwhile, Meta"s newest social network, Threads, became the 12th most popular social media service, reaching 5.3 million UK adults by July 2024.
Source and image: Ofcom