International Internet Day is today, October 29, and locals are more connected than ever.

The day marks the 1969 moment a UCLA researcher sent the first network message to Stanford, when only “LO” from “LOGIN” got through before a crash.

It’s a simple start to what became the modern internet, now central to work, learning, and daily life on the Hibiscus Coast.

Globally, around 5.64 billion people use the internet in 2025, about 68.7% of the world’s population.

Mobile rules how people connect, with about 4.32 billion users on phones.

Roughly 96.3% of internet users go online by mobile, and more than 64% of website traffic now comes from mobile.

The internet’s daily pull is clear.

Users average 6 hours and 39 minutes online each day, including about 2 hours and 32 minutes on social media.

Growth continues, though slower than in the past, with 136 million more users added in 2024, or roughly 370,000 people per day.

Traffic concentrates on a handful of giants.

In 2025, the most visited sites are Google (97.23 billion monthly visits), YouTube (44.49 billion), Facebook (9.16 billion), ChatGPT (5.43 billion), and Instagram (5.34 billion).

New Zealand sits near the top for access.

At the start of 2025, about 5.03 million people were online, a 96.2% penetration rate.

Household access is even higher at an estimated 97.4%.

There were 6.03 million active mobile connections, equal to 115% of the population because many people carry more than one device.

For everyday habits, the average New Zealander spends about 3 hours online for personal use.

Time varies by age. Sixty-seven percent of those aged 18–29 spend four or more hours online daily, compared with 53% for those aged 30–39.

For Coast businesses, clubs, and schools, that attention is an opportunity, as long as privacy, security, and digital inclusion stay front of mind.

Know something local worth sharing?

Send it to [email protected] — we’ll help spread the word.