Internet usage in the UK is incredibly high, in the first quarter of 2012 42.16 million adults (83.7 per cent) had used the internet, and increase of 7% since the beginning of 2011.

Men are more likely to be internet users than women, however the difference is not great, with 86.1% of men and 81.3% of women using the internet. Demographically internet usage is consistent across the UK, although the South East has the highest rate at 86.9%, and Northern Ireland has the lowest at 75.1%.

The biggest factor affecting overly high internet usage is in age, and here the difference is dramatic. While almost all 16-24 year-olds have used the internet, only 27.4% per cent of adults aged 75 years and over had ever used the Internet.

The 3.35 million non-users aged 75 years and over made up 41.2 per cent of the 8.12 million people who had never used the Internet. There were small decreases in the numbers of non-users in all age groups apart from those aged 75 years and over, where there was an increase of 87,000 (2.7 per cent) non-users in 2012, compared with 2011.

It is perhaps not surprising that internet usage is lower among those aged 75 and over, for whom the internet has not been such an intrinsic part of modern life as it has for people aged between 16-24 especially.