The UK population spends a quarter of its time on the Internet, primarily on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, according to a survey carried our by Government regulator Ofcom.

In addition, we are each sending four times as many text messages than in 2004, and spend 3 hours 45 minutes watching television. That equates to almost half our waking hours spent using entertainment and communication technology.

Brits are also multitasking with media, cramming in 8 hours 48 minutes of media consumption into 7 hours per day. Well, if there's nothing better on TV...

The statistics are predominantly linked to the rise in smartphone usage. However, while we are using more and more tech in our daily lives, it's actually costing us less. As Ofcom states: "For the fifth year in a row, spending on communications services has decreased.  Ofcom’s annual Communications Market Report into the UK’s TV, radio, telecoms and internet industries shows that real household monthly spend on communication services fell 9.4 per cent over the past five years to £91.24, as more people choose to buy their services in discounted bundles".

The youth of this generation are obviously attributable, but Peter Phillips, Ofcom partner, Strategy & Market Developments, believes that we shouldn't discount the older members of the population, who are also steadily embracing gadgets, gizmos and the like: "Younger people have shown the biggest changes in how we use media - particularly using different media at the same time.  But the divide between younger and older people’s use of technology is starting to narrow as older people are getting online and finding that things like email are very important to them".

Certainly, Pocket-lint readers are at the forefront of the media tech explosion. Currently, 1 per cent of them stay on the site for more than 30 minutes per day, and that's rising. 

Do you spend most of your waking hours using entertainment and communication technology? If so, let us know in the comments below...