Have you been spending more time online during the pandemic?

Children in the UK have been spending more time online throughout the pandemic

People have been spending a lot more time online throughout the last year, according to a new report from Ofcom.

An annual survey carried out by the regulator found that adults in the UK spent an average of three hours and 47 minutes each day surfing the web on their computers, smartphones and tablets in 2020. That's over an hour longer than adults in Germany, France and Spain.

However, it isn't just adults who have seen their time spent online increase during the pandemic.

Data from the research company CHILDWISE found that between September and November of last year, children between the ages of seven and 16 estimated that they were spending an average of three hours and 48 minutes online each day.

The time children said they spent on the internet increased as the age groups got older, with seven to eight-year-olds reporting that they spent an average of two hours 54 minutes online and 15 to 16-year-olds spending four hours and 54 minutes on the web.

Older boys were online for the most amount of time, with half of 15 to 16-year-old boys estimating that they spent more than six hours a day on the internet, compared to a third of 15 to 16-year-old girls.

However, despite increases in lots of children's screen time, the majority of parents surveyed (59%) said they believed their children had a good balance between the time they spent both on and offline.

What else did the report find?

The report found that older boys were most likely to use gaming devices

The report also found that three-quarters of five to 15-year-olds used either a games console or other gaming device in 2020, showing an increase compared to the previous year.

Similar to general internet use, gaming was more popular among older children and boys, with 12 to 15-year-old boys most likely to use a gaming device (93%).

A survey carried out by the market research company The Insights Family earlier this year found that when it came to specific apps and platforms children enjoyed using, YouTube came out top for seven to 17-year-olds, with more than one in ten rating it as their favourite online app.

YouTube was very popular among kids

Gaming apps including Roblox, Minecraft and Pokémon GO were among some of the most popular apps for children aged 12 and under, alongside streaming services like Netflix and Disney+.

However, older children didn't rate platforms for gaming very highly, with social media apps like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat coming out on top. WhatsApp, Netflix and Spotify were also among some of the favourite apps for those aged 13 to 17.

We want to hear from you - do you think you have you been spending more time online throughout the pandemic, or has your time online stayed the same? Or perhaps you been using the internet a lot less? Have your say in the vote below, or leave us a comment!

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