Britons ‘will leave 10,000 pictures online in their lifetime’
‘As a nation, we need to become savvier with how we use the internet,’ expert warns
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Britons active on social media may leave behind an online trail of 9,828 photos and 62,67 posts across their lifetime, according to a poll.
A study of 2,000 adults found more than a third (36 per cent) of their lives were now shared online.
Including some of the more popular platforms, adults shared an average of 276 posts on Instagram, 170 on Facebook and 141 on Twitter annually – amounting to 17,369, 10,680 and 8,911 collectively over the average lifetime, if they kept up that pace.
The respondents said they had two active email addresses for both personal and work use, and had signed up to over 500 mailing lists.
When quizzed on the safety aspect of this, 47 per cent did worry about the risks of putting so much of their life online – despite 29 per cent failing to be “savvy” when it came to protecting themselves.
A spokesperson for Aloha Browser, which commissioned the survey, said: “We all put so much of our lives online nowadays because it’s considered ‘the norm’.
“But we are not giving our online privacy the attention it deserves.
“It really is simple to protect your privacy online but far too many people aren’t taking the simple, yet necessary steps.”
Using secure passwords is the top thing people did to improve their internet privacy (47 per cent).
Four in 10 said they never disclosed their main email address or phone number, and a further 39 per cent refrained from using public storage websites such as Google Docs or Dropbox.
But despite strong passwords being the main way people protected themselves, 57 per cent still received warnings about them potentially being compromised.
Nearly half (49 per cent) were apprehensive about online safety, with not wanting to be scammed (67 per cent) cited as the top reason for this.
Two-thirds were worried about having their identity stolen, while 33 per cent said they would be embarrassed if they ever got tricked, according to the OnePoll survey.
The average adult received three scam attempts every month, with 34 per cent agreeing it was only a matter of time until their data was compromised.
In addition, 37 per cent said they did not know what a VPN was.
The spokesperson added: “It’s clear from the research a lot of people are still unsure about how to best protect themselves online and even the risks that are associated with being so volatile.
“As a nation, we need to become savvier with how we use the internet and what we do with it.”
How the numbers break down
- Instagram posts: 127.4 per year
- Instagram stories: 148.72 per year
- Tweets: 141.44 per year
- Facebook posts: 169.52 per year
- LinkedIn posts: 132.08 per year
- TikTok videos: 134.68 per year
- Snapchats: 140.92 per year
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments