MOSCOW, June 13./TASS/. Most of the polled Russian nationals (74%) use the Internet every day, suggests a poll carried out by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center.

"According to the survey, 74% of Russians access the global network daily, while the proportion of 'heavy users' - those who spend more than four hours on the Internet a day - was 35%, that's one in three," the pollster said. As many as 16% of respondents said they did not use the Internet, it added.

The survey indicates that the percentage of daily Internet users has increased by 12 percentage points over the last five years precisely due to these ‘heavy users’ (23% in 2018, 27% in 2019, 31% in 2020 and 35% in 2023). The most noticeable increase in Internet usage was seen from those aged between 45 and 49 - the figures increased by 21 percentage points (55% in 2018, 76% in 2023).

In addition, today the majority of Russians (66%) believe it is necessary to take a break from the Internet once in a while, that is, to limit or completely block their access to the web for a while. According to the survey, 39% of global network users in the past year intentionally turned off access to the Internet for a whole day or more, including 17% of respondents doing it weekly, 14% - monthly, 8% - several times a year. The survey also showed that 7% of Internet users experienced negative feelings, depression and anxiety, if they found themselves without access to the Internet for a long time, either forcibly or on their own initiative. Twenty percent of the surveyed Russian nationals experienced positive emotions from this, and the majority of respondents (72%) did not experience any emotions one way or the other.