Spaniards spend five hours a day online, connected to three social networks, says study

According to the new global study Connected Life by market researchers Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), based upon data from 60,500 people with internet access of some description, SmartPhone use in Spain is 9% higher than the world average.

And adults aged under 25 watch more audio-visual content on their mobiles than they do on a TV.

Spaniards are among those who use the widest variety of internet access methods – 93% go online with their mobile phones, whilst 75% use a laptop computer, 63% use a desktop PC, and 57% use tablets.

Connection to instant messaging services, such as Line and WhatsApp, has shot up since 2014, although emailing, blog-writing and news-reading online have fallen slightly in popularity.

Social networks are gradually becoming more widely used, despite claims around two or three years ago that Facebook was starting to drop out of the picture – a typical Spaniard logs into three different media of this type every day.

Half of the under-25s use social networks as their first port of call for seeking information, with WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter being the most prolific.

Internationally, it is becoming more and more common for people to be connected to the internet, even if they are not physically using it, all day long, with all types of appliances used to do so in a social universe which is constantly expanding.

TNS believes the future of interactive technology lies in 'wearables', such as SmartWatches and fitness bands – but says that although they are starting to generate interest, they are still not very frequently used.