Most of us own a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, maybe a desktop computer, a wifi connected TV; we spend hours of our time looking at a screen and a good part of our lives online.

The average internet user now spends 6 hours and 43 minutes online each day, equating to 100 days of connected time per internet user, per year and more than 40 per cent of our waking lives using the internet. What’s more, the world’s internet users will spend a cumulative 1.25 billion years online in 2020, with more than one-third of that time spent using social media.

As of today, I’m 37 years old. I grew up in the ’80s and from that time until today we sure have seen some changes. While I and many have grown into adapting to an online world, for generations to come, it will just be the norm, and, maybe the entire world will one day be connected.

So how many people are online in 2020, how much of the world is connected, and what’s the most used hashtag? We chatted with our friends over at Hootsuite, a global leader in social media management and We Are Social, the socially-led creative agency to get all the info about our lives online.

Let’s begin!

Internet: 4.54 billion people are now online, and half of internet users use ad blockers

4.54 billion people are now online, a year-on-year increase of 298 million, or 7%—we are approaching internet penetration of 60%. However, roughly 3.2 billion people around the world remain offline.

The average internet user will spend 6 hours and 43 minutes per day online in 2020—more than 100 days in total. Globally, we will spend a combined 1.25 billion years online this year. People in the Philippines top the daily usage charts, spending an average of 9 hours and 45 minutes per day online, compared to just 4 hours and 22 minutes in Japan. Google and YouTube are once again the most visited websites, but Yahoo! remains popular, with its website continuing to receive more traffic than Amazon.com and the world’s top ‘adult’ websites.

Data concerns are high globally, with almost two-thirds (64%) of internet users aged 16 to 64 saying they worry about how companies use their data. The report also shows that 56% of online internet users (over 18 years old) are concerned about fake news, while 49% of internet users aged 16 to 64 use ad blockers every month.

Social media: 321 million new social media users, almost half the world is on social

The report finds that 49% of the world’s total population (3.8 billion people) now uses social media, an increase of 321 million or 9% from 2019. However, the available data indicate that women only account for 45% of the world’s social media users.

Social media users in the Philippines are the most active, averaging 3 hours and 53 minutes on social every day. The global average for daily time spent on social media is 2 hours 24 minutes, accounting for more than one-third of our total internet time.

The world’s most-used social platforms are Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp. TikTok, in 7th place, now has 800 million monthly active users, with 500 million of these users in China. We have also seen growth in advertising audience numbers across many major social platforms. Facebook’s data show 1% growth over the past quarter, while Instagram’s ad audience has risen by nearly 6% in the same period. The standout performer is Pinterest, whose advertising audience numbers jumped 12% after it added many new countries to its advertising targeting options.

Connected domestic life

Use of voice interfaces has grown over the past year. Today, 43.2% of internet users aged 16 to 64 use voice search and voice commands on any device each month, up from 39.5% this time last year.

The number of homes around the world with at least one smart home device increased by a third over the past year to 134.1 million. On average, 11% of internet users now have a smart home device. The UK and the US lead the way with the smartest homes, with a respective 17% and 16% of internet users aged 16 to 64 owning some form of smart home device.

Internet-enabled entertainment

The internet is now firmly embedded within our TV habits, with two-thirds of the world’s internet users aged 16 to 64 now watching TV content streamed over the internet. Other sources of popular internet-enabled entertainment include streamed music services (70%) and podcasts (41%).

It’s not just passive entertainment; 4 in 5 internet users aged 16 to 64 say that they play video games each month. Internet users spend an average of 1 hour and 10 minutes a day using games consoles; 20% say they have watched a live stream of others playing games in the past month, and 14% have tuned into an esports tournament in the past 30 days.

What else is happening online in 2020?

• 800 million people use social networking app, TikTok each month
• More than 4.5 billion people now use the internet
• More than 3.8 billion people are on social media
• Hello Google! Alexa. Siri. Data suggests that at least 1.5 billion people around the world now use voice interfaces. With voice audiences now 1.5 times larger than Instagram’s audience
• #Love is the hashtag used in the greatest number of Instagram posts, ever
• The ‘tears of joy’ emoji have been used on Instagram 1.7 billion times, that’s twice as many times as the ‘red heart’ emoji, which has been used 1.3 billion times