16-24 year olds in the UK spend 9hrs each day on the web

UK’s fixation with the internet has scaled new heights eventually leading to lost sleep, neglected housework and less time spent with friends and family for many. A study by media and telecoms regulator Ofcom named annual Communications Market Report gives us a peek into how people cope with spending so much time connected, finding that more than a third of UK internet users are deciding to take “digital detox” breaks from the web.

The adult population of the UK says that it spends 25 hours a week online, up from nine hours in 2005. Three-quarters of UK internet users say it is important to their daily lives and 59 percent say they are “hooked” on the device they use to connect.

The report, which surveyed 2,050 adults and 500 teenagers, found that more than a third find it difficult to disconnect and almost half said they felt lost when they could not access the internet, rising to 59 percent of 16- to 24-year-olds.

In a shocking revelation, the report finds that the age group of 16-to-24-year olds spends on an average 9 hours each day on media and communication.

Almost half (48 percent) said that as a result of spending too much time online they neglected housework and a similar proportion (47 percent) also blamed web browsing for missing sleep or being tired the following day. Nearly one in three said they missed out on time with family or friends and 13 percent said they were late for work as a result of their internet use.

The study also looked at how digital connectivity is having a negative impact on our manners. A quarter of those surveyed said someone bumped into them at least once a week because their eyes were fixated on their smartphones. More than 25 percent said they had texted or used a messaging service to communicate with someone in the same room at home while 40 percent felt they had been “smart snubbed” – ignored by a friend or relative too engrossed in their smartphone or tablet.

For teenagers, smart devices mean neglecting school work and projects. Almost 60 percent admitted neglecting school work because of their addiction to the internet.

According to Jane Rumble, Ofcom director of market intelligence, the UK’s “love affair” with the web shows no sign of waning, but people are trying to find a better balance.“The relationship is not simple. There are many benefits of spending time online, but also people are beginning to reflect on just how much this takes up of their daily lives and taking steps to redress the balance,” she said.

The survey also found that more than a third of people had taken a digital detox at some point in the last year – suggesting about 15 million people in the UK have tried going offline – and 11 percent had done so in the last week.

Ways of disconnecting vary. Three in 10 said they had gone to some form of digital detox holiday, with 16 percent saying they had chosen a location with no internet access and 13 percent that they had deliberately left their phone at home. Almost one in 10 went further and visited a place without even a telephone line.

With teenagers, the means of detox was different; with 61 percent saying they had been “digitally grounded”, meaning a device had been taken away or its use restricted by parents or guardians.

“Teenagers being a digital generation – they have grown up with the internet, they have not known a life without it, and so for them, it’s not necessarily seen to be too much,” Rumble says. “With teenagers, it’s more likely to be their parents or carers that are thinking they have not got that balance right.”

While those who took a digital detox generally said it was a positive experience,however, of those who had never deliberately disconnected, 34 percent said they definitely would not like to give it a go.

While the overall picture suggested many people were realizing they needed time away from the internet, the majority were enthusiastic about the benefits of the web, such as keeping up to date with current affairs, being inspired to try new things such as travel or restaurants and keeping in touch with friends or family.