Future research shows consumer tech confidence

Eye and globe
A serious insight

UK consumers are becoming more confident in using technology, according to the annual Techmonitor research by Future, publisher of TechRadar.

Carried out with research specialist The Source, the findings from close to 2,900 UK responses show that 69% consider themselves experts in at least one area of technology, and that 58% are more confident using technology than they were a year ago.

The research also shows that the boundaries between home and work are blurring, in particular for 16-35 year-olds, and social networking is becoming more common, driven by the increased use of mobile devices.

Invasive

Although a lot of respondents said technology is becoming too invasive, very few felt they could do without it and saw the overall benefits of technology connectivity.

It also breaks consumers down into six groups: immersed leaders, who account 7%, expert enthusiasts (9%), gadget fashionistas (13%), confident pragmatists (29%), traditional users (24%) and tech laggards (19%).

Simon Wainwright, Market Research Director at Future, said: "This has been a comprehensive piece of research to segment the UK and US markets in terms of their attitudes towards, and familiarity with all things tech.

"Through this work, we are seeing the deepening of the relationship between consumers and tech, and how for those who are the most engaged, the recession has had little impact on their planned spend in the next year."