Back in 2018, Deloitte predicted that by the end of the year, 90 percent of Australians would own a smartphone. Four years on, data from Statista shows that in the second half of 2021, an astonishing 92 percent of Australian adults accessed the internet from their mobile devices. Deloitte’s report suggested that Australia was five years ahead of the rest of the developed world in terms of mobile use. If anything, they have got even further in front in the intervening years.
World-beating mobile internet speed
They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Australia ranks 60th in the world in terms of broadband connectivity. But its average mobile internet speed is in the global top 10. At 148 Mbps, it is well ahead of the USA (115 Mbps) and Canada (107 Mbps).
Clearly, this acts as an additional driver towards mobile handsets for internet access as opposed to PCs and laptops.
Mobile casinos booming
The Australian fondness for a wager is the stuff legends, whether it’s betting on the cricket or chancing a few coins in the pokies. The events of the past couple of years inevitably drove Australian gamblers online, especially given the strict measures the nation imposed. As a result, gambling catapulted into the top 10 mobile internet activities according to a July 2021 survey of 3,500 Australian adults.
What makes this all the more remarkable is that online casinos are outlawed within Australia. Of course, that doesn’t prevent Australians from visiting offshore casinos that are licensed elsewhere, and they are doing so in record numbers. As you can see from www.gambleonlineaustralia.com/casino/mobile/, there are literally dozens of such operators pitching their mobile casino offerings at Australian players.
Millennials leading the way – with Gen Z on their heels
Naturally, there is a difference in mobile internet usage between the generations. That’s a pattern that is seen worldwide, but as one commentator put it, Australian millennials live online. Data from SENSIS shows that 100 percent of 18 to 30 year olds use their mobile devices to access the internet. And the most shocking part of all? That’s from survey data collected in 2017.
Data collected last year showed that Gen-Z is picking up where the millennials left off. The oldest Gen Z-ers are now in their mid 20s, and they spend 7.3 hours per day looking at their screens. That compares with a national average of 5.5 hours and it equates to around half their waking lives.
The future is down under
If you live in Europe or North America and you want to get a glimpse of the technological future, you need only look at Australia. Statistically, the rest of the western world looks similar today to Australia in 2017. It begs the question, however – is this the future we really want?
Unplugged Collaborative is a global organization that believes we can have too much of a good thing. Executive Director Kim Anenberg Cavallo suggests every home should have a tech-free zone where family members of all generations can be stimulated by other forms of entertainment, from books to crafts to board games.
Will it take off? We’ll probably have to look at Australia in a few years’ time to find out!
