Addicted to the internet?

Internet addiction is on the rise among Indians and they are becoming increasingly dependent on their computers and mobile phones. On the internet front, downloading music and films is becoming popular. That's in addition to a serious increase in gaming.

These findings, that show the Indian consumer's growing proclivity to using technology for entertainment, were a part of a qualitative online survey -- Technology Tracker 2009 -- conducted by the media agency Dentsu India. The agency first conducted the survey in 2007 to understand people's relationship with technology.

The 2009 survey covers the gadgets that people use on a daily basis and it covered nearly 1,900 people in 38 cities. Among the participants, 54 per cent were male while 46 per cent were female.

Almost 59 per cent of the participants said life would be very tough without their mobile phone. That's an increase of 8 per cent from 2007.

Two years ago, 21 per cent of the respondents said they could get by without a mobile phone. This time only 18 per cent constitute the category.

Not only are Indians are getting increasingly dependent on their computers, they prefer to use laptops which offers them mobility. Compared to the last survey conducted in 2007, there's a 15 per cent increase in the number of people who said life would be very tough without laptops.

Dependence on the Net has grown too. Two years ago, only 9 per cent of the respondents said they cannot survive without the internet. In 2009, the figure has jumped five-fold to 44 per cent.

Email is the currency of communications and online search is crucial to the internet experience. That's not all. Involved gaming activity has grown. Over the 2007 survey, there's a three-fold increase in people who said they can't do without gaming sites.

The popularity of internet as a source of traditional forms of entertainment seems to be on the rise as well. People like to download films and music from the internet.

However, other gadgets are also used for entertainment. Forty per cent of the people said a DVD is a must for them. MP3 players are a must for the majority (62 per cent). A significant 44 per cent said they need iPods and iTunes for music.

"The survey shows the growing dependency of consumers on technology and marketers can easily exploit that. For instance, the Indian consumer is very brand and 'features' conscious when he buys a gadget," points out Rajesh Aggarwal , president, Dentsu India.

Interestingly, 52 per cent of the respondents said they would look at the brand before making the purchase decision. "The challenge for companies would be how to make their products more relevant to the consumer," he said.