Study shows around 50% online read news and visit porn sites
Most of us have spent more time online during the pandemic than before the lockdowns were imposed. A UK study shows that Brits last year spent an average of 3:37 hours per day online followed by Spaniards with 3:06 hours.
In the UK 52% said they go online to read the news but 49% also visited a porn site. In France time spent online was 2:20 hours per day and in Germany 2:06 hours, a report from UK’s media regulating authority Ofcom shows.
“During the spring 2020 lockdown, half of online adults in Great Britain (52%) said news and current affairs was one of their main reasons to go online. Among news sites, the BBC news website or app is most commonly used, with 26% of adults using it in the first quarter of 2021 to get information or news about the coronavirus.”
“However, adults are as likely to use social media to find information about the Covid-19 pandemic as they are to use news sites and apps (about one in three for each). On social media, Facebook is the main source, although younger people are just as likely to use Instagram or Twitter. One in eight 16- to 24-year-olds considered social media to be their most important source of information about the coronavirus pandemic, compared to 5% of all UK online adults,” the report says.
DATING
The isolation also meant that more people turned to dating and porn sites. 49% of UK adults – which means around 26 million – visited an adult website or app in September 2020.
“Around one in eight online adult Brits and more than one in five of those aged 15-34 said they used an online dating service before the spring lockdown in 2020. Tinder was the most popular dating app among young online UK adults – visited by 11% of 18-24s in September 2020 – while Plenty of Fish was most popular among the 45-54 age group”, the report says.
“However, lockdown also saw an increase in romance scams, with money lost to fraudsters increasing by 12% to GBP 18.5 million.”
SHOPPING
“UK online shopping sales rose by 48% to nearly GBP 113 billion in 2020. Food and drinks retailers’ online stores saw the biggest increase in sales, up by 82% on 2019, while sales of household goods also surged – by 76% – due to heightened interest in home improvements.”
“Since the spring 2020 lockdown, teenagers have been spending more money online than offline, and this trend has continued into 2021, with 68% of spend online and 32% offline in March 2021.”
Social video sites and apps are used by almost all UK adult internet users, and by more than 90% of three – to four-year-olds. Young adults 18-24 year old spent an average of 1 hour 16 minutes per day on YouTube in September 2020 – an increase of 11 minutes since 2019.
TIKTOK
TikTok grew during the pandemic from three million UK adult visitors in September 2019 to 14 million by March 2021. TikTok also saw the biggest increase in daily use among young adults – with 18-24s more than doubling their time spent on it in the year to September 2020 – up from 17 minutes to 38 minutes.
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