People spend 'half waking time using technology'

The research by regulator Ofcom – the first to track exactly how long consumers spend using various media – found the average person spends 45 per cent of their time awake absorbing media or communicating via gadgets.

They are sending four times as many texts a day than in 2004 and spending almost a quarter of their time on the internet using social networking sites.

People are also using several types of media at the same time, with the average person cramming eight hours and 48 minutes of media into just over seven hours during the average day.

Younger people are even more adept at multi-tasking, cramming nearly five hours of media usage into just under two hours a day. The annual Communications Market Report into Britain's TV, radio, telecoms and internet industries found traditional TV and radio is holding its own, with the average person watching TV for three hours and 45 minutes a day with evening programmes retaining their popularity.

The popularity of TV has been boosted by the strong growth of digital video recorders – 37 per cent of households now own one – and the introduction of high definition (HD). Nearly a quarter of respondents (22 per cent) said they had bought an HD-ready TV set in the last few years, in spite of the economic downturn.

The divide between younger and older people's use of technology is narrowing, helped by half of over-55s now having broadband at home – the fastest growing rate of all the age groups.

The smartphone and the changing way consumers use mobiles is increasing the overall use of communications, often simultaneously, the study found.

The number of people who surf the internet on their mobile is up by half in the past year, from 9 million to 13.5 million.

The number of smartphone users has more than doubled in the last two years, from 5.5 million to 12.8 million.

Ofcom partner in strategy and market developments Peter Phillips said: "We can see just how central media and communications are to our lives."

n All young people will eventually be allowed to change their name on reaching adulthood to escape their online past, Google boss Eric Schmidt predicted.

Hundreds of millions of web users divulge increasing amounts of personal information on social networking and other sites, the search engine's chief executive warned.