KC – Brits Would Sooner Scrap Chocolate and TV than the Internet for Lent

In an entirely unsurprising new study the incumbent telecoms operator for Hull in Yorkshire, KC, surveyed 2,003 adults via YouGov to discover that most Britons (51%) could not do without Internet access over Lent, which compares with 43% of people who couldn’t give up TV.

Apparently three quarters of Brits still use Lent as an opportunity to change their behaviour, regardless of their religious inclination. Lent is a period of approximately 6 weeks before Easter Day and one aspect of this period usually involves giving up something considered to be a vice, replacing it with another that will bring them closer to God (step ladder?).

So it perhaps goes without saying that 51% of people couldn’t go without the Internet for over a month (we’re surprised it’s not higher), which compares with 43% for TV, 24% for meat (is meat a vice?), 18% for chocolate and 17% for alcohol. But this all relies upon whether or not Internet access should be considered a vice at all, which would rather depend upon how you use the service and it’s rarely possible to answer that question with a single response.

A KC Spokesperson said:

“This study shows we’re an island addicted to technology and connectivity. The internet pervades so many aspects of life today, essential to both our work and personal lives. The fact that more than double the number of people couldn’t go without internet access compared with chocolate says it all: We British clearly love the internet, and we’re simply not prepared to give up access in our free time.”

Saying the human race is “addicted” to technology and connectivity is a bit like saying we’re also addicted to water and survival, which we are but such things tend to be more of a necessity. People like to communicate and stay informed, which is what the Internet delivers, while technology could technically be anything from clothes to the modern Smartphone.

Last year a related IAB study found that there are 46 million regular internet users in Britain, who collectively spend more than 37 billion hours each year and 1 of every 12 waking minutes online. This time is lower than the 4 hours people spend on average watching TV every day, yet more people are prepared to put TV on standby during lent rather than the internet.