In the UK, people spent on average three hours and 37 minutes a day on smartphones, tablets, and computers during the pandemic, according to a new report from Ofcom.

Brits spend nine minutes longer online daily last year compared to 2019.

The research also found that the number of UK homes with internet access jumped from 89 per cent to 94 per cent in 2020.

People in the UK spent an average of 1 hour and 21 minutes a day watching online services like Netflix and BBC iPlayer last year, 24 minutes longer than in the previous year.

In September 2020, British internet users spent nearly four times as much time on smartphones than they did on computers. Brits spent on average of 2 hours 19 minutes a day on smartphones, compared to just 37 minutes on computers.

Zoom had “extraordinary growth,” from a few hundred thousand users in the first two months of 2020 to over 13 million in April and May.

The video platform has since experienced some decline, down to 10.4 million uses in March 2021.

Online gaming also increased significantly, with nearly two thirds of adults and 92 per cent of 16-24 year olds admitting to playing games on an electronic device. Over half of all gamers agreed that gaming helped them get through lockdown.

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