Digital 2022: Motivations for Using the Internet
Data in our Digital 2022 Global Overview Report reveals that internet users now spend an average of almost 7 hours per day using the internet.
All told, that means internet users should spend more than 12½ trillion hours online in 2022 – the equivalent of more than 1.4 billion years of combined human existence.
But why are we spending so much time online?
The latest research from GWI reveals that “finding information” remains the top reason for using the internet, with more than 6 in 10 working-age internet users (61.0 percent) citing this as a primary motivation for using the internet.
“Staying in touch with friends and family” follows in second place, with 55.2 percent of respondents to GWI’s survey saying that this is one of their top online activities.
Just over 53 percent of respondents say that “keeping up to date with news and [current] events” is one of their main online activities, placing this activity third in our latest rankings.
However, as the chart below highlights, there are a wide variety of reasons why people go online – and remember that these are just their primary (i.e. main) reasons for using the internet.
Implications
While each of these motivations is interesting in its own right, some of them are particularly worth highlighting.
For example, marketers will be pleased to hear that nearly half of all working-age internet users (45.8 percent) now regard “researching products and brands” as a primary reason for using the internet.
But the fact that more than half of us say we go online to “research how to do things” is perhaps even more interesting.
These figures demonstrate that large numbers of people go online with the specific intention of solving problems or learning new skills, and it’s very likely that these people will therefore be open to learning about new brands, products, and services as part of their research.
For similar reasons, marketers should be equally excited to learn that 47.5 percent of respondents identified “finding new ideas and inspiration” as a top motivation for using connected tech.
The latest data reveal that we’re also using the internet for more passive activities though, with “filling up spare time” cited by more than 4 in 10 respondents (42.7 percent) as a top motivation for going online.
Similarly, more than half of us (51.3 percent) say that “watching TV shows, movies, and videos” is a primary internet activity, while nearly 1 in 3 (31.9 percent) say that “[online] gaming” is a top draw.
Each of these findings has its own implications, but the overall takeaway is that connected technologies play an ever more important role throughout our daily activities.
Indeed, it seems that there’s no part of our lives that remains untouched by digital – there are even apps to track us while we’re asleep.
So, if you’d like to dig deeper into all of the things that people are really doing online in 2022, check out our complete Digital 2022 Global Overview Report by clicking here.
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