Connectivity is king for students, but they are easily distracted

• Students spend over two days a week online (55 hours) but only a quarter of online time (14 hours) is spent studying 

• Over half of students admit to getting easily distracted while studying online

• Distraction to online entertainment happens after an average of 51 minutes

• Broadband is top ‘priority’ for vast majority (88%) when moving into student housing

• Only 15% of students ‘often’ use university computers to go online

As students across the country go back to university, research reveals that broadband is a critical utility for British students, but the main driver isn’t learning. A new survey of 1,000 students* commissioned by Hyperoptic, the UK’s fastest residential broadband provider, reveals that British students spend an average of 55 hours a week online - but just 14 hours of this time is spent doing university work.

Despite staring at screens for up to six hours a day, only two of those are spent revising or studying. Social media, online shopping and playing video games take up more time each day than hitting the books.

Over half of the students polled – 57 per cent – admitted they use the internet more for entertainment purposes than they do for studying and revision.  On average, students are spending 14 hours a week on social media, 11 hours streaming TV shows and six hours on gaming.

While three hours a week are spent on video chats such as Skype, almost four hours online shopping and even two hours watching ‘adult entertainment’.

The study also found almost half think students will no longer need study books in the next five years as all resources will be online. Currently, 42 per cent said the majority of their university work requires them to use the internet. No wonder that over two thirds (69 per cent) said that they rely on the web daily and two thirds would ‘struggle’ without access to it.

Over half of students said they get easily distracted while studying online and often find themselves not actually getting much done because there are too many distractions. This has led to two in five going to the library to avoid interruptions and almost a quarter have even tried to block social media accounts and websites to get on with their studies. It takes on average 51 minutes – less than an hour – before students get distracted, and over a third blame social media while a sixth said YouTube is responsible.

Broadband is cited as a key utility and key factor when choosing accommodation. A huge 88 per cent said broadband was a ‘priority’ when moving into student housing, due to three in five wanting to watch Netflix, and three quarters said they needed to get on with university work.

Only 15 per cent of those polled ‘often’ use university computers to go online. In the next five years, over an eighth of students think they will completely be able work on an iPad or tablet, rather than a computer or laptop.

Charles Davies, MD ISP, Hyperoptic said: “Technology and how we use it in our daily lives is growing at pace - students predict this will go even further with online resources replacing study books. 

“The research gives us an insight into the demands of future generations – always online, multi-device households and heavy consumers of streamed video and gaming content; all demonstrating the critical need for fast, reliable full fibre broadband which can be accessed by multiple users and devices without any slow down or loss of connection at peak times.

“For students who aren’t located in their accommodation all year round, Hyperoptic offers a flexible, no strings rolling monthly package - with our 50Mbps package being just £23 a month. Our 150 Mbps and 1Gb (1,000 Mbps) rolling monthly prices have been dropped to £26 and £45 respectively – the same as our 12-month deals**.”

Find out more about our student broadband deals