London, Mar 31 (IANS): Britain is rapidly turning into a nation of internet addicts, with the country's adults spending over 15 hours a week staying online, a figure up by five hours as recorded six years ago, says a new survey.

According to a survey by media regulator Ofcom, eight in 10 adults go online through a different array of devices, an increase of 20 percent on 2005, the Daily Mail reported.

A combination of older generations getting online, the continuing rise of social networking sites and new technologies such as smartphones are being 'credited' for the rise.

Research showed that 59 percent of adult internet users have a profile on a social networking site. Of those, two-thirds visit the sites everyday, up from a third in 2007.

The report suggests that while the take-up of the internet has slowed among younger generations due to most of them already being online, the latest rise is being driven by older age groups such as 45 to 54-year-olds.