Researchers from Oxford University have found that 44% of British internet users now get online by using Smartphone's (e.g. iPhone, HTC Desire), tablets (e.g. iPad) and readers (e.g. Amazon Kindle) or own three or more computers. That's up from 32% in 2009 and 20% in 2007.

The group, described as "Next Generation Users" by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) survey, also spends the majority of their time either using email, updating their social networking site (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) or finding directions (e.g. Google Maps).


As ever your annual income continues to play a big part. Approximately three-quarters of Internet users with an income of £80,000 per year used multiple devices to go online, which compares with 49% for those on an income of £50k and 41% for people who earn less than £12.5k.

By contrast 52% of students who access the Internet are Next Generation Users, which is almost identical to the 51% of "employed" internet users of all ages who were Next Generation Users too. Just 9% of retired people are Next Generation Users.

As for the gender gap, more women (63%) than men (57%) were found to engage in social networking. Meanwhile a striking 99% of young people aged between 14 and 17 years made use of the internet compared with one-third of people aged over 65. Overall, Internet use in Britain has grown from 59% in 2003 to 73% in 2011.