The UK Online – What are people doing?

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There are nearly 36 million in the UK online every single day, a staggering 73% of the entire population. This figure has seen a massive rise since 2006 when it stood at 16.2 million, the data is collected from questions put to 1000 adults each month by UK Opinions and Lifestyle Survey.

There have been pushes by government to spread the use of the internet to rural communities and the elderly, both areas where take up had been slow and as confidence in security and content issues have dissipated so the overall use has increased.

Question is, what are all these people doing online?

Frequency of Internet Use.

35.7 million use the internet daily.

4.2 million use the internet weekly.

7.4 million haven’t used the internet in the past 3 months.1.6 million use the internet less than weekly.

More Men than Women shop online.

27% of men.

22% of women.

A disparity starts to appear when you consider the purchases:

Women are more likely to buy food and clothes.

Men are more likely to purchase software, films, music and games.

Internet Activities by Sex.

There are clear distinctions on what men and women look for and do online, 60% of men read the news online compared to just 49% of women whilst women are 7% more likely to seek health advice online.

Biggest Change.

The biggest increase since 2007 has been in the number of users reading the news online, up from 20% to 55%. Users only spent more time online conducting product research (66%) and sending emails (75%) with Social Media fourth with 53% of users surveyed.

Over 65’s.

The biggest change in frequency of use can be seen in Britain’s older generation. 37% of those aged over 65 now go online every day, compared to just 9% seven years ago.

You can download the Full Report in a PDF from the Office for National Statistics here.

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