People spend daily average of seven hours online worldwide

The amount of time people across the world spend online has surged remarkably in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the trend showing no sign of slowing.

A recent report titled "DIGITAL 2022 – Global Overview" offers insights into digital trends, including daily time spent on the Internet and social media platforms.

Across all devices, the average Internet user aged 16 to 64 spends six hours and 58 minutes online per day, found the report by New York-based agency We Are Social and social media management firm Hootsuite.

South Africans spend the greatest amount of time online each day, as its working-age Internet users are online 10 hours and 46 minutes daily, followed by the Philippines with an average of 10 hours and 27 minutes.

Countries including Brazil, Argentina, Malaysia, Mexico, Indonesia, UAE, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Türkiye, Portugal, Russia, Israel, Singapore, India, and the US also spend more time than the average on the web.

People in Japan, on the other hand, spent the least amount of time on the Internet as they had a daily average of four hours and 26 minutes.

Social media's role in professional activities

"Filipinos and South Africans are also considerably more likely to use social media for work than the global average," the report said.

That was "with more than one-third of internet users aged 16 to 64 in both countries saying that social media plays a role in their professional activities," it added.

The main reasons for using the Internet, according to the report, included finding information; staying in touch with friends and family; keeping up-to-date with news and events; watching videos, TV shows, and movies.

Other major uses listed were researching how to do things; finding new ideas or inspiration; accessing and listening to music; researching products and brands; and filling up spare time and general browsing.

People were also using the internet for education and study-related purposes; researching places, vacations, and travel; researching health issues and healthcare products; gaming; business-related research etc.

READ MORE: Metaverse — the world not prepared for dangers it poses