The numbers behind the change paint a stark picture. According to Ofcom's latest Online Nation report, UK adults spent an average of four hours and 30 minutes online every day in 2025, which was an increase of 10 minutes year on year and 31 minutes more than in 2021.
The figures are even more concerning for people in the 18 to 24-year-old age bracket, with their average time on devices being six hours and 20 minutes. This data covers smartphones, tablets, and computers, while excluding work and television. Each of these hours comes from somewhere out of a person's day.
Last Orders
One of the areas where this trend is most visible is in pubs. Figures from the British Beer and Pub Association show that 161 pubs closed across England, Scotland, and Wales in the first 3 months of 2025, which is almost 2 a day. The closures resulted in over 2,400 job losses, and about half of those were held by people between 16 and 24 years old.
That followed 336 net closures in 2025. The industry is keen to stress the reasons for this trend of closures. The BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin put some of it down to taxes and soaring costs eating into profits despite many pubs being busy. The association is calling on the government to reform business rates and cut both VAT and beer duty.
However, it's hard to separate cost pressures and changing habits. Many people will spend a night streaming or play casino online games at home instead of playing pub fruit machines. They get a takeaway through an app, and drinks from a supermarket are now a cheaper and easier combination.
The Sofa Economy
The same convenience has impacted the high street. Office for National Statistics data shows online accounted for 27.3% of all UK retail spending in April 2026, compared to 19.2% pre-pandemic. While it's still below the 37.1% peak during the lockdown, it's a big step up regardless.
This asks painful questions of retailers, many of whom are wondering if it's still viable to have a physical presence. People can now order a product online and have it delivered to them the following day, so there's not as much of a reason for people to go into a store.
Footfall data shows increases only in places which offer a choice, vibrancy and mixed uses to consumers. That's why property advisers call for investment in more experiential formats, as people are willing to spend more on experiences than consumer goods.
This is a reason for the big increase in games rooms, cinemas, food halls, wellness studios, and leisure venues, which are things that people can't really download.
Flat Whites and Fresh Air
With pubs struggling, there's been a big boom in coffee and people living an all-around healthier lifestyle. Allegra World Coffee Portal's Project Café UK 2026 report found the branded coffee shop market grew 3.5% over the past year to 12,313 outlets, adding 420 net new sites, with sales up 5.5% to £6.8bn. Britain's independent coffee shops grew at a similar pace, reaching 13,211 outlets.
The make-up of that market is telling. Greggs, a bakery chain, now has more outlets in the branded coffee sector than Costa (2,737 against 2,707) while premium newcomers such as WatchHouse, Blank Street and Gail's are expanding fast.
Coffee shops are not without their problems. The average latte now costs £3.76, and the share of operators describing trading conditions as positive dropped from 46 to 37% in a year. But as places to meet, work or simply sit among other people, they are winning ground the pub once held, particularly among younger adults who are increasingly choosing fitness over drinking.
Then there are the run clubs. What was once a niche pursuit for committed athletes has become one of the defining social trends of the decade.
Fitness app Strava reported in mid-2025 that the number of new run clubs on its UK platform had tripled year on year. By the end of the year, new clubs on Strava worldwide had nearly quadrupled, taking the total past one million, with running clubs up 3.5-fold.
The motivation is not just fitness. Some 55% of Gen Z members say social connection is their main reason for joining a group, according to Strava. Its chief executive, Michael Martin, says younger users want "real experiences, not more time staring at screens".
Clubs such as Mafia Moves in London, Running Punks in Wales and BTND in Birmingham have turned an evening or weekend run, usually followed by coffee, into something closer to a night out.
A Generation Logging Off?
This shows the paradox that exists in modern British social life. The generation that spends the most time online is also the one most visibly looking for ways to get offline together.
Strava's 2025 trend report concluded that Gen Z is moving away from passive scrolling and over to real-world experiences. They found that more than half of the people surveyed plan to use the app more in 2026, with fewer saying that they would use Instagram or TikTok either the same or less.
Ofcom's research also showed that adults surveyed in 2025 were less positive about the internet's overall impact on society than they had been a year earlier.
There's also a danger of over-exaggerating the swing. One of the starkest figures is that the competitive socialising sector, such as darts venues and crazy golf bars, saw sales drop by about 9% in 2025, according to industry data. This has led to some operators slowing their expansion plans. The novelty looks like it might be wearing off for these types of venues.
The lesson for businesses is that they're fighting a losing battle trying to compete with the sofa for price and convenience. What they can focus on is competing on connection, atmosphere, and things that can't be delivered to one's front door.