Kiwis are suffering withdrawal anxiety when not connected to the internet, according to a new survey from Canstar Blue.

The survey shows New Zealanders' passion for our online lives isn't always a positive, with 41% of those surveyed admitting they feel anxious when not connected to the internet, and 26% saying they spend more time socialising online than in person.

Canstar New Zealand general manager Derek Bonnar says the most anxious are Gen Y's with 55% stating having no internet access stresses them out.

“But when they are connected, nearly a third of Kiwis – 30% - often feel guilty about how long they spend online, but aren't motivated to do anything about the number of hours glued to their screens.

Twenty-one percent of baby boomers also admitted feeling guilty about the amount of time they're spending online.

The survey shows that 26% of Kiwis spend more time socialising online than they do in person and that 36% of Kiwis check/update their social media more than four times a day.

“The internet is definitely becoming ubiquitous, and not always with positive affects,” says Bonnar, noting that 17% of Aucklanders say the amount of time they spend online is negatively impacting their relationships, compared to 12% who said the same in 2014.

More men (14%) are noticing a harmful effect on their real-life relationships than women (9%) but women are spending more time cultivating online relationships, with 42% updating and/or checking their social media accounts more than four times a day.

Thirty-six percent of Kiwis check or update their social accounts ‘many' times a day, but those from the Bay of Plenty are least interested in what is going on in their online worlds (27%), while Aucklanders (43%) are maintaining their online profiles most often.

Around the regions

When it comes to the amount of time we're spending online, Aucklanders lead the way, spending a whopping 32 hours a week online – nearly the equivalent of a full working week – and averaging 4.6 hours a day online.

Otago people were next biggest online users, clocking up 3.8 hours a day online, followed by Wellingtonians (3.6 hours/day), Waikato and Bay of Plenty (3.5 hours/day) and Cantabrians at 3.3 hours a day.

Aucklanders were also most likely to look at their partners internet browsing history (9%), most likely to say the amount of time they spend online is negatively impacting their relationships (17%) and most likely to feel guilty about how long they spend online but not change the amount of time they spend online (35%).

They were also most likely to regularly download music and videos they don't pay for (25%), most likely to spend a lot of time streaming movies online (25%), most likely to waste a lot of time surfing the internet out of boredom (48%), most likely to spend more time socialising online than in person (33%), most likely to feel stressed when they don't have internet access (49%), most likely to check/update social media more than four times a day (43%) and most likely to have a naked broadband account (24%).

Those from the Waikato were least likely to feel guilty about how much time they spent online (24%) and least likely to waste a lot of time surfing the internet out of boredom (25%).

Cantabrians were least likely to look at their partner's browser history (3%), while Otago people were least likely to feel stressed without internet access (24%).

Meanwhile those from the Bay of Plenty are least likely to feel the amount of time they spend online is negatively impacting their relationships (3%), least likely to regularly download music and videos that they don't pay for (6%), least likely to spend a lot of time streaming movies online (9%), least likely to spend more time socialising online than they do in person (19%), least likely to check/update social media more than four times a day (27%) and least likely to have a naked broadband account (12%).