July 22 2007

Online networking taken over from 'real life'

UK internet users are spending more time online than they do socialising in 'real life', according to a study by comparison site uSwitch. We now spend an average of 34 days a year online - longer than eating and drinking (21 days a year), personal grooming (11 days) and socialising (22 days).

According to uSwitch:

The average Brit spends 6 days a year networking online - but 780,000 internet addicts are devoting over 24 days a year to this activity, longer than they do on 'real life' socialising.

Women use social networking sites more than men with 56% of female broadband users logging on compared to 46% of male broadbanders.

With over 13 million broadband connections in the UK, 74% of broadband customers haven't switched supplier in the last year and nearly half (42%) have never switched

Overpaying for broadband is rife - 6 in 10 people pay more than they need to and are collectively wasting a staggering £749 million a year

"I can't live without MySpace" and "I'm addicted to Facebook" are now common statements among friends and colleagues and the emergence of social networking sites is having a real impact on everyday lives. Over half of all broadband users now log onto sites such as Facebook, MySpace and MSN Messenger.

Social networking has overtaken online shopping, banking and downloading music as the most popular online activity after surfing the net and emailing. While the average internet user now devotes 2 hours a week shopping online and a total of 2 hours a week banking online and downloading music, they now spend 3 hours a week - or 6 days a year - on 'virtual' networking.

Emma Herrod