People across Asia are increasingly switching downtime pursuits into "uptime" opportunities, according to a study of people's digital lives by Telenor Asia.
In Asia, people are socialising more online than they do in-person. Nearly half of the respondents said they meet new people regularly online and three-quarters of them expect to spend even more time socialising via social media apps in the coming years.
People are also spending a good amount of their leisure time tapping into mobile technology for online investing, social gaming as well as on-the-go learning apps and podcasts.
The conclusions are based on the "Digital Lives Decoded" survey the company conducted in July 2022 among 8,227 mobile internet users over 18 years old, across eight markets in South and Southeast Asia: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
In Thailand, the pandemic has led to a sharp increase in the time people spend socialising online, which respondents view as a positive development. Sixty-six percent of Thais say they regularly meet new people online, compared with the survey average of 47%, while 63% say their mobile device helps them feel more connected to people they know (vs 55% overall).
Respondents in Thailand are also most likely to increase the time spent investing in alternative online investments (57%), streaming on-demand content (49%), and spending time in the virtual world (45%).
As well, 44% of Thais play mobile games daily, well above the 31% average for the eight countries surveyed.
In line with this, people in Thailand are most likely to increase time spent online social gaming in the next two years (62%, compared to 45% overall).
Thais are also the most likely to spend more than an hour a day listening to podcasts (66% vs 45% average), skewed to millennial and Gen X populations.
"The standout finding from these results is how mobile technology has transformed gaming. Mobile access has turned gaming into a mass phenomenon, embedding virtual interactions and virtual worlds into daily life," said Jørgen C Arentz Rostrup, head of Telenor Asia.
"We see now that gaming is bringing positive impact to real-life communities, reinforcing relationships and making other areas of daily life like work, healthcare or learning more efficient.
"This growth comes with even higher expectations of mobile operators as people seek more dependable, faster mobile networks."
Among the trends identified in the study:
1. Social media are second nature: Some of the habits formed during the pandemic are becoming hard-wired in the way we live our lives, with two-thirds (66%) of people saying they now socialise more online than in real life.
Younger generations tend to spend more time socialising online, but Baby Boomers say mobile technology is helping them feel more connected to their loved ones. More than half of respondents (55%) say they feel better connected to people they know because of social media.
2. The new face of gaming is mobile: Four out of five people play some mobile game, with close to a third (31%) playing every day, led by those in Thailand (44%) and Vietnam (41%). Telenor's research suggests that stereotypes of gamers need updating as this pastime now reaches across genders and generations.
In-game spending continues to grow in appeal, with half of those surveyed spending some disposable income on gaming and in-game features while nearly a third of people spend between US$10 and $100 per year.
3. Downtime becomes uptime: Respondents are increasingly looking to their mobile devices for self-improvement, personal upskilling and development. Forty percent are using mobile devices to tap into learning and educational apps or websites, with women and younger generations most likely to say they feel the benefits.
In particular, more than half of Gen-Zs (51%) surveyed said that learning on their mobile has significantly improved their quality of life, in contrast to only one quarter (25%) of older generations.
4. The metaverse is yet to be truly convincing: Looking to the future of play, while there is growing interest in virtual reality, the study indicates that people are currently on the fence about shifting their downtime activities to the metaverse, defined as a virtual world where people, digital platforms and businesses and co-exist and interact.
Just over one-third (39%) of respondents are keen to socialise and make new friends in the metaverse. Singaporeans are the most resistant or sceptical, with only 26% keen on the possibility. Respondents in the Philippines (55%) are the most enthusiastic.
5. Will on-demand content lose ground? Streaming on-demand content is a top activity people are spending time on daily. Sixty-three percent of respondents spend at least an hour a day doing so on their mobile phones, coming in second to listening to music (65%) and more than gaming (59%).
Millennials and Gen X are more likely to stream on-demand content than Gen Z, who prefer to spend their downtime on social media or gaming. Across the region, Thai respondents are likely to spend the most amount of time -- with 8% estimating that they spend 7-8 hours per day streaming content on-demand, compared to a regional average of 3%.
Although video streaming has disrupted the media and entertainment industry, the study revealed that streaming on-demand content does not have the same pull or staying power as other mobile activities. Compared to socialising through social media apps (74%) or online social gaming (45%), only 37% of respondents said they expect to spend on more time on this in the next one to two years.