Half of UK mobile owners surfing Web on handsets

Britain is fast becoming a nation peopled by hunchbacked youths with over-developed thumbs and a penchant for vicarious thrills.

That's the view of a survey, which has found almost half of mobile-owning Brits surf the Web on their handsets everyday, and well over half check email on the move on a daily basis.

Mobile social networking is also popular with many gadget-owning Brits, the survey conducted by ICM Research and the London School of Economics (LSE) for mobile network Vodafone has found.

More than 45 per cent of mobile users access Web sites every day via their mobile device, according to the survey, while a whopping 62 per cent check emails daily and more than a fifth (24 per cent) have subscribed to social networking on their phones.

ICM Research and the LSE said 3G has been oiling the wheels of mobile Internet services as it makes on-the-fly Web access easier.

Other factors helping to drive mobile Internet consumption in Blighty include networks signing contracts with free email providers, such as Google Mail and social networking Web sites like Facebook.

New pricing structures, which include data in the voice and text tariffs, have also helped.

Unsurprisingly, use of mobile social networking is substantially higher in the 18- to 24-year-old age group. But there is also significant interest in accessing the mobile Internet across all age groups, according to the survey findings.

Professor Leslie Haddon of the Media and Communication Department at LSE said the lower figure for mobile social networking use compared to email reflects the latter's longer established presence in the market.

He said in a statement: "This is a strong indicator of how email has been integrated into the lives of those who use it. But despite the lower figure for social networking sites it suggests that a significant minority have already become somewhat dependent on using them as well."

The survey also found the main barrier to mobile email and social networking adoption is the perceived threat of high bills -- with almost half (41 per cent) of respondents saying they would be 'very likely' to use the mobile Internet more often if cost was not a factor.