Most Ukrainians spend more than four hours a day online

The majority of Ukrainians spend more than four hours a day on the internet and active users spend more than eight hours.

That's according to a survey conducted by Gradus Research Company in September 2023, Ukrinform reports.

"Society is becoming more and more digitalized, with the majority of Ukrainians spending more than 4 hours a day online and active users spending more than 8 hours," the report says, referring to the results of the survey.

The concept of constant "online" is manifested in the regular search for up-to-date information, "checking in" with relatives in messengers, and buying goods online.

At the beginning of the pandemic, offline and online shopping competed with each other, and the former was more common, as people were used to going to stores and choosing goods physically. During the war, Ukrainians became even more immersed in online shopping.

The survey shows that more than a quarter of Ukrainians prefer online shopping, and another 38% buy both online and offline

In addition, messengers remain the most popular media for news consumption in Ukraine (70%). In addition, respondents increasingly prefer YouTube (56%), compared to March 2023 (50%). The importance of television as a news channel has also increased (42% vs. 38%).

According to sociologists, the fact that Ukrainians are increasingly choosing video content may indicate fatigue from reading news and the growing popularity of video blogs or news TV programs or talk shows. This can also be explained by the fact that at the beginning of the war, people preferred to receive the most up-to-date information that could be issued in a text format the fastest. Now, when the events are unfolding more moderately, people are ready to wait for more visual formats, such as video, rather than consume fast formats.

The survey was conducted by Gradus Research Company on September 5-7, 2023. Some 1,896 respondents were interviewed using a self-administered questionnaire in the Gradus mobile application.