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UK adults have spent ‘more than a quarter of their waking lives online during lockdown’


 

UK adults have spent more than a quarter of their waking lives online during lockdown, a study says.

Regulator Ofcom’s latest Online Nation report for April found they used the internet for an average of just over four hours a day.

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Adult Brits in lockdown have spent 'more than a quarter of their waking lives online'

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Adult Brits in lockdown have spent ‘more than a quarter of their waking lives online’Credit: Getty – Contributor

That figure is up from the 3.5 hours recorded in September last year — with video call sites seeing unprecedented growth.

The proportion using video chat doubled during lockdown, with seven in ten now using such services at least weekly.

For over-65s, it jumped from 22 per cent in February to 61 per cent.

The biggest increase was on video conferencing platform Zoom, which rose from 659,000 UK users in January to 13million in April.

The report also says the likes of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger have become more regularly used than text message or email.

Online voice calls on platforms such as WhatsApp are now nearly as popular as mobile phone calls.

Ofcom’s strategy and research director Yih-Choung Teh said: “Lockdown may leave a lasting digital legacy. Coronavirus has radically changed the way we live, work and communicate online.”

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