Real-world concerns about women’s safety and wellbeing are mirrored in the online world, according to figures from the British regulator Ofcom’s ‘Online Nation 2022’ report.

The findings reveal that women in the UK are avid users of social media platforms, spending more than a quarter of their waking hours online – around half-an-hour each day more than men (4hrs 11 min vs. 3hrs 46min). But for many women, life online is not always a positive experience.

“We found that while the majority of people say the benefits of being online outweigh the risks, women are considerably less likely than men to agree (63% vs. 71%). Similarly, fewer women are confident about their online safety (64% vs. 73% of men).

“Female participants in our research say they feel less able to share their opinions and have a ‘voice’ online (42% compared to 48% of men),” Ofcom said in a statement.

Women are also less likely than men to feel free to be themselves online (33% vs. 39%). For many, life online can replicate harmful discriminatory dynamics that exist in wider society, the report highlights.

As well as looking in detail at the harms people encounter online, the report builds a comprehensive picture of the online landscape in the UK today. It delves into broader online use, experiences and behaviours – everything from gaming to online dating – as well as the tech companies behind them.

Online Use In UK: UK adult internet users spent four hours online a day in September 2021on computers, tablets and smartphones. Young adults continue to spend the most time online, with 18- 24-year-olds spending an average of 5 hours 6 minutes online a day, and those aged 55+ spending the least time (2 hours 58 minutes).

Women spent more time online (4 hours 11 minutes) than men (3 hours and 46 minutes). Online adults in Scotland spent the most time compared to the other UK nations (at 4 hours 18 minutes), while online adults in Northern Ireland spent the least amount of time online (3 hours 25 minutes).

Seventy-three per cent of the time spent online per day by UK online adults was on a smartphone; one in five people only use a smartphone to go online, compared to one in ten last year.

News and governmental public services are among the most-visited websites and apps in the UK. The UK Government online service, which includes gov.uk, was the internet domain with the seventh highest reach (71% of UK adult internet users) in September 2021.

This may reflect use during the pandemic, with people accessing information on Covid-19 as well as financial and travel information. NHS online services were the ninth top reaching sites, reaching 67 percent.

Among online news services, BBC News was the most visited in all four UK nations, and in total was visited by 71 percent of the UK online adults.

Most of the top ten news websites and apps for the whole of the UK were equally popular across each UK nation. But the high reach of Wales Online (the second most visited online news service in Wales), Belfast Live (second in Northern Ireland) and the Daily Record (fourth in Scotland) shows the importance of news tailored to audiences in each of the UK nations.

Meta-owned apps made up the top four smartphone apps most visited daily by UK adults in September 2021.

In September 2021, 88 percent of UK online smartphone-using adults visited WhatsApp, the top-reaching smartphone app, followed by the Facebook app (87%). Comparing average daily visitors, Facebook was visited by 61 percent, WhatsApp by 50 percent, Instagram by 35 percent and Facebook Messenger by 27 percent of UK smartphone-owning adults who went online.

Instagram was the top smartphone app among UK online 15-24s, of whom 60 percent visited it daily, on an average. One in five adults use all three Meta-owned communication services.

Nearly all (94%) UK adult internet users aged 16+ said they used an online communications service for making voice/video calls or sending messages in 2021, and 80 percent of children aged 3-15 did the same.