Technology dominating students’ free time

A survey conducted between the IAB and The Student Room to find out how the young people of today use the internet has found just how much technology is a part of students’ day to day life.

A question that asked ‘What percentage of your free time do you spend doing the following?’ revealed that students’ top 5 ways of spending their free time was mainly revolved around technology. In fact only 36% of those surveyed said that they spent more than 5% of their day playing sport, keeping fit or generally being active.

1. Browsing the web (96%)
2. Hanging out with friends (90%)
3. Going on Facebook (90%)
4. Watching TV (82%)
5. Reading books (78%)

Football in the park and hanging around on street corners is being overtaken by technology as the survey found that 80% of students own a laptop, 73% an MP3 player and 98% have a mobile phone compared to only 40% that own a bicycle or 42% a radio.

The preference to staying in over getting out and about might be a concern for organisations that are trying to promote a more healthy lifestyle amongst today’s youth, particularly given their passion for junk food.

15.9% of surveyed students spend over 7 hours a day on the internet and 26% watch videos online every day on the popular video sharing site YouTube.

See also

• IAB and The Student Room collaborate to further understand students’ online usage behaviour
• Top 5 student websites for news, entertainment, shopping and other more Xrated content!
• Opinion Panel research confirms that The Student Room is the most widely known site amongst students at university
• Generation Y use their mobiles to take The Student Room outside