Digital 2022: Fourth dimension Spent Using Connected Tech Continues to Rise

One of the top stories at the start of the COVID-nineteen pandemic was how much more than people came to rely on internet-connected technologies and services, peculiarly as many countries entered lockdown.

Nevertheless, despite fluctuations in move restrictions over the past two years, data in our Digital 2022 Global Overview Study reveals that people are in fact spending more time than ever using connected tech in 2022.

Internet time

Research from GWI reveals that the "typical" global net user now spends almost 7 hours per day – six hours and 58 minutes to exist precise – using the internet across all devices.

Change in Average Daily Time Spent Using the Internet January 2022 DataReportal

For context, if we assume that the average person spends roughly vii to 8 hours per day sleeping, the typical internet user now spends more than 40 percent of their waking life online.

The corporeality of fourth dimension we spend online continues to climb as well, with the daily average increasing by iv minutes per day (+1.0 per centum) over the by year.

That may not audio similar a big increase, merely added up beyond all of the earth's net users, those iv extra minutes per 24-hour interval should equate to more five billion additional days of internet use in 2022.

In full, the latest numbers suggest that the world should spend more than 12½ trillion hours online in 2022 alone.

As with most data points in our Global Digital Reports, withal, there are considerable differences in behaviour past geography.

South Africans now spend the greatest amount of time online each day, with the country's working-age cyberspace users saying that they spend an average of 10 hours and 46 minutes on continued activities every 24-hour interval.

Once again allowing 7 to eight hours per mean solar day for sleep, that means that the typical South African internet user at present spends roughly 2-thirds of their waking lives online. And remember, that'south but the boilerplate user; many people will spend fifty-fifty longer online.

Average Daily Fourth dimension Spent Using the Internet by Country January 2022 DataReportal

Filipinos, Brazilians, and Colombians aren't far backside South Africans, with the average internet user in those countries now spending more than than x hours per day online.

At the other end of the scale, Japanese users report spending the to the lowest degree amount of time online each twenty-four hours, with the national boilerplate below 4½ hours per day.

It's also interesting to notation that Mainland china sits quite far downward these rankings, with the land's net users saying they "only" spend an average of 5 hours and fifteen minutes per twenty-four hour period online.

Television time

While it's unlikely that people'south daily media time is a "zero sum game", information technology is interesting to note that the four-minute increase in global daily internet time over the past yr is in direct contrast to the four-minute pass up in daily TV viewing time.

Average Daily Time Spent with Media January 2022 DataReportal

However, despite that dip in Boob tube's overall share of our daily media activities, it's worth highlighting that "over-the-top" video services – which include net-powered streaming services like Netflix – account for an always greater share of our TV viewing time.

The latest numbers from GWI show that net users spent 44 percent of their total Boob tube time watching streaming services in Q3 2021, with that share figure increasing by a relative 4.four percentage – or 180 footing points if you'd prefer absolute share growth – compared with this time last yr.

On average, global cyberspace users aged 16 to 64 spend roughly one½ hours per day watching streaming content, compared with ane hr and 50 minutes for 'linear' TV (eastward.yard. broadcast and cable).

For context, the boilerplate time that cyberspace users spend watching streaming Television set increased by ii minutes per twenty-four hours over the by year, while the fourth dimension we spend watching broadcast TV decreased by an boilerplate of half-dozen minutes per day.

Information technology's also worth highlighting that the number of working-historic period internet users who say they own a TV streaming device such as an Apple Idiot box or a Chromecast has increased by seven.6 percentage over the by year.

Ownership of Internet Connected Devices January 2022 DataReportal

Ownership of Internet Connected Devices January 2022 DataReportal

Social media time

At an average of ii hours and 27 minutes per day, social media accounts for the largest unmarried share of our connected media time, at 35 per centum of the full.

The time we spend using social media has grown once more over the past year too, upwardly by two minutes per solar day (+1.4 percent).

However, social media's share of overall internet time has actually fallen slightly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is largely because people have embraced a variety of new online activities over the by two years, so – relatively – social media now accounts for a smaller share of total online fourth dimension than information technology did when people did fewer things online.

Social Media's Share of Full Online Fourth dimension January 2022 DataReportal

Mobile's share of continued time

It's besides interesting to note that mobile's share of our daily connected time continues to grow.

Mobile phones at present account for 53.five percentage of the time that working-historic period internet users spend online, upward past 1.3 percent (+lxx basis points) compared with this fourth dimension last twelvemonth.

Mobile'south Share of Total Daily Online Fourth dimension Jan 2022 DataReportal

Similarly, data from Statcounter shows that mobile'south share of spider web traffic has risen again over the past year.

Web browsers running on mobile phones accounted for an average of 54.4 percent of spider web page requests across the final three months of 2021, representing a 3.viii percentage increment compared with the concluding quarter of 2020.

Mobile's Share of Global Web Traffic Over Time January 2022 DataReportal

Mobile's Share of Global Web Traffic Over Time Jan 2022 DataReportal

Still, information technology's worth highlighting that web-based activeness just accounts for a small fraction of the time that the world's smartphone users spend interacting with their devices.

The latest data from App Annie reveals that the time spent using mobile browsers only represented 7.5 percentage of total mobile fourth dimension in 2021, with native mobile apps accounting for the vast bulk of the world'southward mobile activity.

For context, that ways web browsing accounts for merely 1 in every xiii minutes that we spend using our smartphones.

Time Spent Using Mobile Phones Jan 2022 DataReportal

Computers' share of internet time

Laptop and desktop computers are still a crucial function of the mix though, so marketers should be conscientious not to interpret "mobile start" as meaning "mobile merely".

On average, 92 percent of global internet users aged xvi to 64 go online via a mobile phone, but more than lxx percentage all the same utilise computers.

As you can meet from those figures, the majority of internet users still use both mobiles and computers for at to the lowest degree some of their connected activities, although it's likely that each individual will have their own device preferences when it comes to specific activities.

Device use varies considerably by geography too, with about 9 in x cyberspace users in Poland going online via a laptop or desktop computer, compared with fewer than 1 in 4 in Republic of ghana.

Use of Computers to Access the Internet by Country January 2022 DataReportal

Use of Computers to Access the Internet past Country January 2022 DataReportal

And so, while mobile should exist a cardinal colonnade of near marketing plans, it's too important to consider which activities our audiences volition exist engaging in when we hope to reach them.

For example, data from Meta'southward self-service advertising tools reveal that a whopping 98.5 percent of Facebook'southward active user base uses a mobile telephone to access the service, and more than 80 pct just using mobile phones to browse their Facebook feeds.

Facebook Access by Device January 2022 DataReportal

Facebook Access by Device January 2022 DataReportal

It'due south likely that computers will still be the preferred device for a number of online activities though, especially when it comes to internet use at work.

Device preferences also vary by age and gender, albeit not as much as they used to.

Overall, cyberspace users anile 55 to 64 are less probable to use a mobile phone to go online compared with internet users anile xvi to 24.

Conversely, these older users are more likely than younger users to access the internet via a laptop or desktop calculator.

Still, almost 90 percent of "older" users still go online via a mobile phone, while 2 in 3 Gen Z internet users however go online via computers.

So the all-time approach is to cater to both eventualities.

I'd definitely recommend investing time to recall about which device will provide the best user experience for the content you lot want to share, and examine your web analytics to run into how users access your current content.

Recall that it's your audition who will make the ultimate decision as to which device they want to use though, then in near all cases, it makes sense to cater to mobiles and computers.

Want to learn more near the state of digital in 2022? Check out our total Digital 2022 Global Overview Report past clicking here .

Simon is DataReportal'south master annotator, and CEO of Kepios.
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