More women than men will adopt ‘connected living’ technology

Survey reveals that four in five women in the UK (83%) will embrace connected technology to save time and provide a smarter way of living.

London, UK, 19th November 2014: A survey by leading online research and survey technology provider, Toluna, today revealed that UK women are not only excited about connected technology – or the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) – but that 83% will actively use it in daily life.

The survey, which questioned a representative sample of 1,000 UK consumers, aimed to uncover how they felt about the prospect of connected living and what they knew and understood about the phrase ‘Internet of Things’. A comparative study was carried out in the US.

Overall almost three-fifths of UK consumers (58%) said they are either very excited or quite excited by the new technology and nearly half (45%) were enthused by the prospect of saving time. Interestingly, women are more excited by this technology than men, with two in five (41%) believing it will help them organise their lives, and a third (34%) feeling it will prevent them forgetting things. It seems women will be the early adopters of connected technology that promises a streamlined and smarter way of living.

The study revealed that substantially more UK women than men would use the IoT for healthcare, e.g. technology enabling smart medicine bottles to automatically arrange healthcare appointments and repeat prescriptions (44% and 32% respectively). Furthermore, more women than men would use the IoT to boost fitness – monitoring workouts and consumption, as well as sleep patterns (36% and 25% respectively).

Over half of all UK consumers (51%) regardless of age, gender or income bracket, would like to see connected household appliances taking control of the day-to-day chores – such as fridges that inform consumers when groceries are running low. This adoption rate was similar in the US (49%).

Home security was cited as a popular feature with over half of UK consumers (52%) claiming they would install a connected security system in their home, if cost were not a factor. Interestingly, men (55%) place more importance on this than women (49%). However, the opposite trend was found in the US where 56% of women would use IoT technology for security, compared to just 53% of men.

But nearly two thirds of British women (65%) have concerns about the reliability of connected technology, with half (50%) being particularly concerned about the ease of replacing a lost or damaged keypad. Women in the US were almost as concerned as those in the UK, with 60% highlighting reliability as a cause of apprehension.

Nearly nine out of ten British women raised concerns about security, with 87% fearful that hackers would access their personal data. This figure is the same in the US (87%).

“Life-enhancing technological advances introduce many benefits and opportunities for consumers, but they also raise concerns. Our goal was to delve into how UK consumers feel about the implications of the Internet of Things,” said Paul Twite, Managing Director, UK, Toluna.

Twite added, “It has been interesting to discover that women in the UK can better appreciate the lifestyle benefits of connected living technology and are keen to take advantage of them, although it is clear that consumers, in general, have concerns about privacy and reliability. This is something that technology developers should take on board as a priority.”

Other key findings:
While 73% of UK consumers believe that technology makes life easier and more organised, 40% claim not to want any further technology in their lives.
Almost a third (31%) of consumers in the UK dread having to learn how to use another new technology. This rises to 39% in the US.
Almost two-thirds of UK consumers (64%) worry about the distractions the IoT may bring to drivers and three out five people (59%) are concerned about the constant interference the new technology causes.
Although one in five people (21%) are not likely to use IoT technology, a third of people (32%) plan to use it in as many areas as possible.
Almost a quarter (23%) of consumers would like to see hologram TVs and phones in the future.

Methodology
The survey was conducted in October 2014 among 1,000 adults (18+) in the UK and US respectively. Respondents were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Toluna surveys. Figures for age, gender, education, income, employment, and region were weighted to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the online population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.