One in three claims to be suffering from social media fatigue

Multimedia multi-tasking is growing amongst people in Ireland, with as many as one in three saying they post content online while watching TV.

This number rises to almost three quarters in the 16-24 year-old age group.

The latest eircom Household Sentiment Survey also shows one in three people claim to be growing tired of social media.

However, 43 per cent still say that checking social media sites is the last thing they did every night while one in two of this cohort are described as having “ultra” personalities - defined as a tendency to fanatically check social networking sites for updates.

People may use social networks with ever greater frequency but 39 per cent of them admit to being economical with the truth on such platforms.

The survey points to the increasing influence of technology on our lives and puts the number of people over 16 with a smartphone at 1.7 million, with 1.3 million set to have access to a tablet computer by Christmas.

Irish people have an average of 21 apps on their smart devices but use only seven regularly. The most commonly used apps cover news, transport, maps and exercise.

TV habits are also changing in line with technology with two thirds of respondents admitting to skipping through recorded ads since the option has been made available.

Some TV habits are perennial, however, with almost half of those polled saying they thought men still like to retain possession of the remote control and ith 38 per cent of the younger generation admitting to having purposely hidden a remote control in the past.

However, the survey also shows that despite living in a digital age, 33 per cent of the population does not understand new technology, with the trend particularly acute amongst the older generation.

All told 49 per cent of those aged between 50 and 64 and three quarters of those in the older age bracket are struggling to understand new technology.

"Over the last 12 months we have seen how, we are becoming increasingly reliant on technology in our everyday lives, with apps playing an increasingly important role," said eircom spokeswoman Lisa Comerford.

“However, while the latest survey concludes that there is increased reliance on digital devices nationwide, there is also a “generational gap” emerging where, it seems, almost one third of the nation is being left behind in this digital age.”