The Internet can be highly addictive, but that is an old news. However, more and more people are now willing to go to extremes just to stay connected to the web. A new survey has discovered how far we would really go in our hunger for online information.
A survey called “Connected World II” has found that the global average of daily Internet activity has reached 5.1 hours. This means that the average web user spends more than one-fifth of his day online either via his or her computer or mobile devices or both. As a result, the FOMO phenomenon (fear of missing out) is now observed all over the world.
According to the report, FOMO can have two types of effects on a person – positive, which include relief when a person experiences a downtime, and negative, which leads to increased anxiety, anger and even feeling of loss. The research has found that the majority of users, particularly those in Asia, are affected by the negative effects of FOMO. For example, 82% of the users in India and 78% of those in Singapore feel negative emotions when they are not connected.
Another disturbing discovery made by the survey is that one-third of the respondents have shared that they would not live more than 5 hours without web access. Some users have even shared that they would trade other pleasures in exchange for web access. About 25% of the participants in the survey were willing to give up watching television, whereas nearly 22% believe they could live without chocolate but not without Internet. One in five prefers to surf online, instead of practicing sports. Furthermore, an average of 5% of the respondents have stated that they would give up intimacy for the web.
People all over the world may be addicted to the Internet, but they still have some big gaps in their knowledge related to the web. For instance, nearly 70% of the users believe that the World Wide Web and the Internet are two terms that stand for one and the same thing. In addition, most of them also have the false belief that the capabilities of the Internet are unlimited.
Nevertheless, the majority of the people who have regular access to the web think that the Internet offers many benefits to modern society. The greatest of them seems to be the instant global connection it provides, since 77% of the survey’s participants enjoy this side of the web the most. Others are happy that the web allows them to freely express themselves.
The research also tried to paint the future of the Internet through the eyes of today’s web users. According to 30% of them, in just 3 to 5 years, they will have the opportunity to browse the web with the speed of light. However, the majority of them continue to be quite skeptical when it comes to the adoption of wearable gadgets. About 80% of the respondents have shared that they do not believe that wearable technology will be adopted by the mass user by 2019.
