According to a survey by ICM, later reported in the Times Online, despite an increase in broadband saturation of around 65 per cent, one in five adult Britons are still unable to open a word processor and just under 20 per cent still cannot send an email.

Whilst it doesn’t feature as high in the stats, 16 per cent of Britons claim that using search engines is a problem for them, whilst 28 per cent feel that they are at a loss by not being able to use a social networking site such as Facebook or MySpace.

Trends found that those with such poor IT skills, that it hindered the chances of gaining employment had the highest saturation in areas of the North East, whilst London had the highest IT proficiency.

The study by ICM found that ‘time’ was blamed as the main cause of computer illiteracy (48 per cent), whilst 28 per cent claim they just ‘didn’t know where to start’. More than 40 per cent of adults over 18 were concerned that technology was ‘outpacing their IT skills’.

Speaking to the Times Online Helen Milner, managing director of UK Online Centres, said: “Many people may struggle to name someone they know who can’t use the internet, but go into one of our centres and it will be full of them. One in three adults don’t have even the most basic computer skills.”

Source: Times Online

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