This chapter outlines the type of internet activities internet users engage in, some of which, as the survey was conducted in the first two quarters of 2022, was likely influenced by the general societal response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Email remains the most popular activity carried out on the internet - 91% of internet users surveyed in 2022 used email. In 2022, it was also the most popular internet activity carried out by both males and females – 93% of males and 89% of females. For internet users aged 30 years and over, email was the most popular internet activity for internet users. Over four in ten (81%) of older persons aged 60 to 74 years used email in the three months prior to interview. See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in remote working from home where possible. Nearly all (95%) internet users whose principal economic status was At work used email. See Table 2.1.
Internet banking is now the second most popular internet activity and has grown by over ten percentage points since 2021. Nine in ten internet users used internet or mobile banking (includes PayPal, Revolut, Apple Pay, etc.) in 2022, compared with nearly eight in ten (78%) in 2021. Internet banking increased across all age groups. Over three quarters (77%) of internet users aged 60 to 74 years used internet banking, an increase of seven percentage points on the same period in 2021. See Table 2.1.
Instant messaging such as via SMS, Skype, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Viber remains the third most popular internet activity and its use has grown by five percentage points over the year to 2022 – 89% of internet users now use instant messaging compared with 84% in the same period in 2021. Our survey results show that marginally more females than males use instant messaging – 90% of females compared with 88% of males in 2022. See Table 2.1.
Although finding information about goods and services has dropped from the second most popular internet activity to the fourth most popular, its use (87%) has decreased by just one percentage point on the same period in 2021 – 87% of internet users using this activity compared with 88% in 2021. See Table 2.1.
People can choose social networking (includes creating user profiles, posting messages or other contributions to Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok, etc.) to communicate with friends, family, work and school groups, etc., with 78% of internet users engaged in such communication channels, a increase of eight percentage points on the same period in 2021 (70%). Males and females use social networking to a similar extent – 79% of females compared with 78% of males. For persons aged 30 years and over, the survey results tell us that it was for persons aged between 30 and 44 years for whom this activity was most prevalent – 82% of persons aged 30 to 44 years compared with nearly three quarters (73%) of internet users in the 45 to 59 years age group communicated on social network platforms. Just 43% of internet users aged 60 to 74 years used social networking platforms to communicate. See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2.
Fewer users of the internet used it to check for health information in 2022 – 55% compared with over two thirds (67%) in the same period in 2021. Females were far more likely than males to go online to look up health related information – 63% of females compared with 47% of males. See Table 2.2.
One in five (20%) internet users expressed opinions online (on websites or in social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) on civic or political issues, compared with 21% in the same period in 2021. Analysis by age shows that persons aged 30 to 44 years were more likely to engage in this type of internet activity – 28% of 30-44 years olds compared with just one in twelve (8%) persons in the 60 to 74 years age group who used the internet in the previous three months. One in seven (14%) internet users took part in online consultations or voting (to define civic or political issues such as urban planning, signing a petition, etc.). See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2.
