New Zealand’s Internet Insights 2023

Welcome to this year’s Internet Insights report, an in-depth survey of New Zealand’s online attitudes and behaviours. The survey was compiled by Verian (previously Kantar Public) who polled 1,001 people in Aotearoa to reveal how the Internet is impacting our lives.

The info below is just some of the key findings from the report.

Internet use A huge amount of our personal time is spent on the Internet

27% More than a quarter of New Zealanders (27%) spend five hours or more on the Internet for personal use
63% The majority of New Zealanders (63%) spend two to four hours a day using the Internet outside of work
48% While using the Internet for leisure, almost half of us (48%) spend most of that time on social media. The next popular online activities are email (40%) and streaming services (39%)

New Zealanders drop their daily use of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter/X

While these huge social platforms still consume most of our personal Internet use, our daily use has dropped this year. However, Messenger and TikTok remain the same.

59%
Facebook
28%
Instagram
7%
Twitter/X
6%
LinkedIn
54%
Messenger
14%
TikTok

Increase in people connecting to fibre — the biggest jump in four years

This year's survey shows the biggest increase in home fibre connections in the last four years. 69% of New Zealand Internet users are now connected to fibre at home. This is up from 64% the year before.

Households in New Zealand with fibre connections
2023 69%
64% 2022

New Zealanders are divided on whether they think the Internet has a positive impact on our cultural beliefs and values

37% positive impact, 28% negative impact.

Thirty seven percent of New Zealanders think the Internet has a positive impact on our cultural beliefs and values. But 28% think it has a negative effect.

Women are more likely to think it has a negative impact than men.

ConcernsPositives and negatives of the Internet

We see a significant decline in people thinking that the positives of the Internet outweigh the negatives

Since last year, the number of people who think the positives of the Internet outweigh the negatives has dropped from 84% to 80%. This number has been declining since 2019. For Māori it is 75% and for Pasifika peoples it's only 63%.

80% Feel the positive outweighs the negative. This is down 4 percentage points from last year.

pp = percentage points

The top concerns that New Zealanders have about the Internet
Decrease of
1pp
73%
Young children accessing inappropriate content
Increase of
1pp
69%
Security of personal data
Decrease of
1pp
66%
Online crime
Increase of
2pp
66%
Identity theft
Increase of
6pp
65%
Information being misleading or wrong
Decrease of
2pp
65%
Cyber bullying
Three key concerns
70+
Older people more concerned

Older people (aged 70 or over) are more concerned than younger people about 14 of the 18 aspects of the Internet.

6pp increase
Concern about misinformation

People being very or extremely concerned that information is misleading or wrong has increased from 59% last year to 65%.

42%
Concern about natural disasters

Two out of five New Zealanders (42%) are concerned about people being cut off from the Internet due to a natural disaster or infrastructure issue.

Online SafetyToo many people have personally experienced online harm or harassment

18% New Zealanders have experienced online harm or harassment
38% New Zealanders know where to report concerning things
Only 38% of New Zealanders know where to report something they've seen online that might be harmful or dangerous

Of these 38%, most would report it to Netsafe (48%) and 30% said they would report it to the police (which is down from 47% last year).

Half of New Zealanders are concerned about the security of their data but we are not doing enough to secure ourselves

Even though a whopping 50% of people who use their personal details on the Internet are very or extremely concerned about the security of their data, we are seeing a drop in the number of people taking security precautions.

Artificial IntelligenceA lot of New Zealanders are concerned about AI

Four out of five New Zealanders know ‘at least’ a little bit about artificial intelligence (AI). We asked these people how they felt about AI and 42% said they are more concerned than excited.

Four out of five New Zealanders know at least a little about artificial intelligence
42% New Zealanders who know at least a little bit about AI said they are more concerned than excited

Of the group that were concerned, these were their top 5 concerns...

1

Being used for malicious purposes

2

Having no regulation and law regarding development

3

Having unintended consequences that cause harm to people

4

Producing inaccurate information

5

Violating privacy concerns

Flexible workingA lot of New Zealanders still say they want to work from home more often!

Three in five New Zealanders (61%) do the type of job that allows them to work from home. 75% of those, with the option to work from home, do so at least some of the time.

Over half of these people — who already work from home some of the time — wish they could do it more often.

Half of New Zealanders — who can work from home — would consider relocating in Aotearoa if they could take their job with them.

These are the top three reasons why people would move:

51%
better lifestyle
50%
more affordable housing
49%
more affordable lifestyle

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