Benefits of the Internet

The pandemic appears to have had a significant impact on several areas of how New Zealanders perceive the Internet. The Internet is now associated with a greater number of social benefits than ever before, with the biggest increases related to working from home, online shopping and cloud storage.

Perceived value of Internet benefits

Although the top three biggest perceived benefits (communicating with family and friends, access to information and online shopping) have been rated the highest during each of the last three years, the biggest increases were in the areas of working from home, online shopping, and cloud storage.

Access to information was still one of the most important benefits, but it also had the biggest decrease. Our research indicates that New Zealanders are more concerned about fake news and misinformation than ever before.

Do the positives of the Internet outweigh the negatives?

87% of New Zealanders say that the positives of the Internet outweigh the negatives.

Benefits value rating by year

“I have been on the Internet a lot this year as it's the only company I have due to lockdowns, etc.”

Benefit perception demographics

Older New Zealanders are more likely to perceive the benefits of the Internet - this may be because they didn't grow up with it and don't take it for granted.

In general, women tend to perceive more Internet benefits than men.

Average number of benefits perceived by women and men

8.2
Benefits perceived on average
Women
7.4
Benefits perceived on average
Men

Younger New Zealanders and men are less likely to say easy communication, access to information, and online shopping are key benefits of the Internet.

Easy to communicate with friends & family

Access to information

Online shopping

Accessing information

The type of information New Zealanders see as particularly important to have access to also reflects COVID-19 circumstances: news, updates from friends and family, health information, and government updates.

Information importance percentage

2020
“In these time[s] of fake news, it is good to use the Internet to verify news from numerous sources.”

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