This chapter outlines the type of internet activities internet users engage in.
A broad range of internet activities are included in the survey questionnaire that cover all aspects of our everyday lives online, ranging from seeking information on health related issues, on goods and service, etc., to doing everyday activities such as banking online, watching internet streamed TV (Netflix, Disney+, etc.), listening to music on Spotify, to communicating with each other online on social networks (WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc.), online meetings (Teams, Zoom, etc.), email, etc.
Note: The data presented in this release relates to individuals aged 16 years and over who used the internet in the three months prior to completing the survey.
Email remains in top position (95%) in 2025, but internet banking or mobile banking (includes PayPal, Revolut, Apple Pay, etc.) is now the second most popular internet activity at 94%, up seven percentage points on 2024.
Finding information on goods and services has now fallen from joint first position in 2024 to third most popular internet activity in 2025 at 92%.
Older people aged 75 years and over are using internet banking more, with slightly less males (71%) than females (73%) in this age group banking online.
Almost nine in ten (88%) 16-29 year olds were social networking online in 2025, compared with three in ten (31%) internet users aged 75 years and over.
Almost all (99%) younger females internet users aged 16 to 29 years were using instant messaging such as via SMS, Skype, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Viber, compared with 91% of males of similar age.
More than nine in ten (93%) younger females aged 16 to 29 years were using social networking such as creating user profiles, posting messages or other contributions to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp etc., compared with 81% of males of similar age.
Households with children were far more likely to use social networking than households with no children in 2025. Almost nine in ten (87%) of households with children used X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc., to communicate online (up four percentage points on 2024), compared with 69% of households with no children.
Nearly seven in ten (68%) internet users are going online seeking health related information on, for example, injury, disease, nutrition, improving health, etc., unchanged from 2024.
Females (77%) were far more likely than males (55%) to go online to look up information on physical health such as about flu symptoms, high blood pressure, pain medication, surgical procedures, nutrition, etc.
Younger females aged 16 to 29 years were more likely than males to seek information online on mental health such as about anxiety, eating disorders, burnout, depression, etc. at 65%, compared with just one in eleven (9%) of males in the same age group.
Of males seeking information on health-related issues online, those aged 45 to 59 years were most likely to look up mental health related issues (31%).
Nearly one in five (19%) internet users expressed opinions online (on websites or in social media such as Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) on civic or political issues, while 18% took part in online consultations or voting (to define civic or political issues such as urban planning, signing a petition, etc).
Males were more likely than females to express opinions online on civic or political issues at 23% compared with 15% of females.
Analysis by age shows that males aged 30 to 44 years were most likely to express opinions online (on websites or in social media) on civic or political issues (32%).
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