Internet users spend 18 minutes less online in 2023 than last year

Although internet users still spend more than 40% of their waking hours on online activities, the average time spent online has dropped for the second year.

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According to data presented by OnlyAccounts.io, internet users spent an average of six hours and 35 minutes online in 2023, or 18 minutes less than last year.

Average Time Spent Online Dropped to 2016 Levels

While being online is still incredibly important in everyday life, people are spending less and less time on online activities, according to the Digital 2023 Report by Data Reportal.

The survey, conducted among Internet users aged 16 to 64, showed a huge 18-minute decline in time spent online in 2023 compared to last year, with people worldwide spending six hours and 35 minutes daily on their online activities, including smartphones, computers and tablets.

The latest data showed daily time spent online hadn’t only returned to pre-COVID-19 figures but actually dropped to levels seen in 2016 when the world spent roughly six and a half hours online each day. In comparison, just two years ago, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the average working-age internet user spent almost seven hours per day online, but that fell to 6 hours and 37 minutes in 2022.

Daily Time Spent on Social Media Drops by Five Minutes

The Digital 2023 Report also showed some interesting data about the time internet users spend on different kinds of media and devices each day. Gaming consoles saw the biggest decrease of all surveyed categories, with their daily use declining by 7.1% year-over-year. Statistics show an average internet user spent an hour and five minutes playing games on a console or five minutes less than last year.

Reading the press media, both online and printed, saw the second-largest yearly decline of 6.8%, with one hour and 49 minutes of usage time each day. Time spent on music streaming platforms dropped by three minutes or 3.3% compared to 2022.

Interestingly, even the time spent on social media dropped compared to the 2022 figures. According to the survey, an average internet user spent two hours and 42 minutes using social media platforms in 2023, or five minutes less than last year.