The Ministry of Science and ICT announced today the results of the ‘2020 Internet Survey’.
Statistics show how much you use the Internet with your computer or smartphone, and what services you use when you use the Internet. Korea boasts the world’s No. 1 infrastructure with an Internet penetration rate of nearly 100%, but the way you use the Internet has not changed.
It was so common that I didn’t know it was precious. However, this survey was very different.
It is because of Corona 19. The time to use various Internet services has increased significantly.
In fact, unlike other industries last year that were hit directly by the Corona 19 recession, the IT industry has grown rapidly, so the so-called’big tech’ companies in Korea such as Naver and Kakao are at a performance-paid party and even an internal conflict over how incentives are distributed There are also some aspects of this outcome that are expected in the situation reported in. This survey has a meaning that it is the first time that official statistics have confirmed that we were forced to live a’non-face-to-face life’ where human contact itself was not recommended.
‘Silver Surfers’ soaring… Internet banking growth rate in 60s ranked first
In terms of age, the most striking thing in this survey is that the so-called’silver surfers’ surged.
‘Silver surfer’ is a coined word for the elderly who are good at using digital devices and the Internet. According to this survey, first of all, the Internet banking usage rate in the 60s surged to a whopping 50.5%.
It increased 23.6%p from the previous year, which is twice the rate of increase in Internet banking usage (11.6%p) of the previous generation.
It means that one in two people in their 60s made financial transactions with a smartphone or PC. The perception of the elderly, who thought that money transactions must go to a bank, has also changed due to the environment of Corona 19. For similar reasons, Internet shopping usage has also skyrocketed.
The generation with the greatest growth is in their 50s. This is 60.2%, an increase of 16.1%p from the previous year, three times the average of the previous generation (5.8%).
Internet to soothe the loneliness of the elderly
As you cannot face to face with people close to you, the fact that non-face-to-face communication is significant is another part of the survey results.
Unlike young people who have to go to school or work to meet people even when wearing masks, non-face-to-face communication has rapidly increased among the elderly who have fewer opportunities to meet. The percentage of people in their 70s who use messengers such as KakaoTalk was found to be 87.8%, up 12 percentage points from the previous year.
For similar reasons, the increase in the use rate of voice recognition services such as artificial intelligence speakers was the largest in the 60s (13.7%, 6.1%p increase) and 70s (10.9%, 8.6%p increase).
Analysis shows that AI speakers played a role as a conversation partner in a situation where there was no one to talk to.
In addition, for those in their 60s, the usage rate of videos like YouTube increased by 22.5%p to 82.7%.
You have to worry about internet addiction
As the number of silver surfers increased rapidly, the total internet usage time of the people increased as well. The average time spent using the Internet per week was 20.1 hours, an increase of 2 hours and 42 minutes compared to the previous year.
This is the first time since 2017 that internet usage time has increased by more than 2 hours from the previous year. In addition to the silver surfers, teens couldn’t attend school due to Corona 19, so the time to study on the Internet increased the most, and those in their 20s and 30s are attributed to the universalization of video conferencing and remote work.
The Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, which is the main ministry, evaluated, “It has been confirmed with actual data that the Internet plays a supporting role in public safety in a non-face-to-face environment.”
However, some experts point out that the dysfunction caused by excessive Internet use should also be considered.
In relation to this, the government plans to begin preparing countermeasures by announcing the results of the survey on the dependence of smartphones during this month.
The ‘2020 Internet Usage Survey’ was conducted on 60,000 household members from 25,50 households nationwide, and the original text of the report is from the Ministry of Science and Technology (www.msit.go.kr) and the Korea Intelligent Information Society Agency (www.nia.or). .kr) You can download it from the website from the middle of this month.