Household Digital Consumer Behaviour 2023

Top internet activity is still email

Key findings of internet users who used the internet in the last three months:

• Email remains the most popular internet activity in 2023 – over nine in ten (93%) internet users used mail. See Figure 2.1, Table 2.1 and PX Stat Table ICA95 for comparisons with 2022.
• Almost all households with dependent children used email. For internet users aged 30 to 59 years, email was the most popular internet activity. Almost nine in ten (89%) of older persons aged 60 to 74 years used email in the three months prior to interview. 
• Finding information about goods or services overtook internet banking as the second most popular internet activity – 90% of internet users went online seeking information about goods or services compared with 87% in 2022, while 88% used internet or mobile banking (includes PayPal, Revolut, Apple Pay, etc.). 
• Internet banking remained unchanged for persons aged 30 to 59 years, but older internet users aged 60 to 74 years increased their use of internet banking – 83% compared with 77% in 2022. 
• The prevalence of internet banking increases as the affluence of the geographical area where the respondent resides increases. Over nine in ten (93%) of internet users living in very affluent areas used internet banking compared with less than four in five (78%) living in very disadvantaged areas. 
• Instant messaging such as via SMS, Skype, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Viber has dropped from the third most popular internet activity to the fourth most popular, its use has decreased by three percentage points on the same period in 2022 – 86% of internet users using this activity compared with 89% in 2022.

More people looking online for health-related information

Key findings of internet users who used the internet in the last three months:

• Six in ten internet users are now going online seeking health related information on for example injury, disease, nutrition, improving health, etc., an increase of five percentage points on the same period in 2022. See Table 2.2 and PX Stat Table ICA99 for comparisons with 2022.
• Females were far more likely than males to go online to look up health related information – 62% of females compared with 57% of males.
• Over seven in ten (71%) are using 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.
• Use of social networking was greatest among households with dependent children. Over nine in ten (93%) of respondents living in households of three or more adults with children used social networking, compared with only 60% of sole occupancy households. See Figure 2.2.
• Females use social networking to a greater extent than males – 70% of females compared with 64% of male internet users. 
• Just 45% of older persons aged 60 to 74 years used social networking, compared with almost nine in ten (88%) of internet users aged between 30 and 44 years.

One in eight use the internet to express opinions on civic/political issues or for online consultations/voting

Key findings Of internet users who used the internet in the last three months:

• Almost one in five (19%) internet users expressed opinions online (on websites or in social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) on civic or political issues, while one in eight (12%) took part in online consultations or voting (to define civic or political issues such as urban planning, signing a petition, etc.). See Table 2.2.
• Analysis by age shows that persons aged 30 to 44 years were more likely to expressed opinions online on civic or political issues (28%).
• Almost one in seven (15%) of 45 to 59 years olds, participated in online consultations or voting, compared with just 8% of persons aged 60 to 74 year.