PC ownership has hit 70% in the UK and just shy of half of all
online teenagers are on social networking sites according to the
latest figures from the Office of National Statistics.
The latest Social Trends figures from the ONS showed that home
computer ownership had risen from 29% of the population in 1998 to
70% by 2007. There have also been corresponding rises in the
numbers of people connected to the internet.
Mobile phones have also increased, hitting 78% of all UK
households in 2007 compared to just 20% a decade earlier.
Drilling down into behavioural patterns more men used the web
than women with a third of males admitting to watching TV or
listening to the radio via the internet.
The next generation also showed signs of embracing technology
with 49% of all 8- to 17-year-olds with access to the web having a
profile on a social networking site.
"As ownership of home computers increased (from 29% to 70%) so
has the proportion of households that have an internet connection
(from less than 10% to 61%)," stated the ONS report.
A version of this story originally appeared on
Microscope.