Users Are Seriously Addicted to The Internet

Cell phones and the internet are becoming more and more an essential part of our daily lives. So essential, in fact, that the majority of 1,011 people when asked how long they would feel OK without online access, 15% of respondents said just a day or less. 21% said a couple of days and another 19% said a few days.

Only a fifth more said they could go for a week. Men were more likely to say they could not go without the internet with 59% choosing one of the three options above; vs. 50% of women.

Response did not vary significantly among age groups. Similarly 48% of respondents agreed that, "If I cannot access the Internet when I want to, I feel like something important is missing."

Some other trends discovered in the survey results:

* More than a quarter of respondents (28%) admit they spend less time socializing face-to-face with peers because of the amount of time spent online or otherwise occupied with their gadgets-a full 20% said they're spending less time having sex.

* Cell phones win out over television in a question asking which device people couldn't go without. The internet, however, trumps all and is regarded as the most necessary.

* Almost three-quarters agree that they now shop differently, and two-fifths say more of their spending is moving online: 73% agree that "The Internet has changed the way I shop." 42% overall and 45% of under-35s agree that "My spending is moving more and more from offline to online."

Teens and baby boomers are side by side in cyberspace - nearly half of those surveyed over 55 years old say that they live at least some of their life online. The same percentage of those under 35 agree. However, what's dividing the generations is where, not how often.

Web surfers in the U.K. spend more time online than those in the rest of Europe or the U.S. The average U.K. Internet user spends 34.4 hours on the Web each month -- or almost a day and a half -- followed by the Swedes with 31.7 hours and the Spanish with 30.6 hours, according new figures from comScore.

The U.K. and Sweden also beat out the U.S., where the average Web surfer spends 31.4 hours online each month and Britain's poor weather is blamed on U.K.'s high usage rates.



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