Age, social networking and spending trends
There is a growing use of technology among older people, although they typically focus on a narrower range of services, according to Ofcom's report.
In 2009 growth in internet take-up appears to have been driven by older age groups and they consider emails to be the most important media activity. In fact one in three people over the age of 55 use email each day and almost half check their mail once a week.
However, perhaps unsurprisingly, the study found 16-24 year olds are the most efficient users of communications services, squeezing 9.5 hours of media consumption into just 6.5 hours of actual time.
This age group uses the internet in the most social way, with two thirds of time online spent communicating through social networking, email and instant messaging. Around 60 percent of people aged 15- 34 use social networking sites but other age groups are increasingly joining in, with 20 percent of 55-64 year olds using the same sites, a 7 percent increase over the past year.
Social networking now accounts for one quarter of the time people spend online, driven by the growth of Facebook, where the average user spent 6 hours and 30 minutes in May. Facebook was also the most popular mobile internet site in terms of time spent, accounting for almost half of mobile web time in December 2009.
The report also found men spend roughly an hour longer using media than women every day and are more likely to surf the web on their mobiles, although women are catching up. Women also spend longer on their phones outside work time than men and would miss their mobiles 15 percent more than men if they were to disappear.
Interestingly, while women rate social networking as a more important activity to them than men, both sexes spend about the same time of 20 minutes networking daily.
Despite multitasking and spending lots of time absorbing media, people are paying less for communications devices, with spending in decline for the fifth year on the trot. The report found real household monthly spending on communication services plunged by almost 10 percent over five years to £91.24 as more people select value bundles.
