Broadband and Internet Issues Fuelling UK Family Arguments

A new uSwitch.com survey of 2,004 UK adults (773 parents), which was conducted during March 2018 and weighted to reflect a nationally representative criteria, has claimed that 30% of respondents have taken out their frustrations with internet devices or services on other members of their household.

In the past people would argue over control of the TV remote or bedtimes but today things are different. The survey claims that more arguments now stem from too much time being spent on internet connected devices (20%) than what to watch (17%), bills (15%) or dinner plans (14%).

Meanwhile broadband related problems at home have prompted 21% of households to bring in measures to prevent such disputes, such as curfews on device usage, confiscating devices, limiting the number of episodes that people can watch in one go, and even switching off the router’s WiFi.

For parents, cutting back on children’s usage of the internet and devices is now considered a more effective punishment than other conventional measures. Confiscating tech (31%) and banning internet access (24%) are more popular tactics than grounding (15%), stopping pocket money (13%) or giving extra chores (11%).

The outcome is perhaps not a great surprise, particularly with 87% of people agreeing that WiFi is essential and an average household of four people now has 8 internet capable devices (5 of which are used on a daily basis). On top of that, people tend to spend around 4.7 hours a day each (net response) using internet connected devices.

Ewan Taylor-Gibson, Broadband Expert at uSwitch.com, says:

“Squabbles and arguments are inevitable in any household, but it’s an indication of how our lives have changed that so many are now a direct result of internet issues. Speed-related problems, such as video buffering, slow loading pages and intermittent internet service are among the issues that have sparked household tussles.

We’re increasingly reliant on the web and internet-connected devices – and as technology becomes more advanced and we see more connected devices in the home, this is only likely to snowball.”

Disappointingly the survey mentions broadband issues, such as slow-loading web pages, connection speeds (ISP) and video buffering, but it doesn’t clarify what proportion of respondents actually experienced each of those specific issues. Instead it throws them all together into the same vague bucket of “broadband-related problems“. Take this survey with the usual pinch of salt.

NOTE: The net response for individuals who have taken out their frustrations in a larger four-person household rises from the average of 30% to 41%, while the net response for those with no children that have taken out their frustrations on others (e.g. partners) in the same household is just 25%.