BT's 21st Century Life Index

What is BT’s 21st Century Life Index Report?

BT’s 21st Century Life Index Report takes a detailed look at how people in Britain feel about communications services in 2008, the last 10 years of IT developments and what people want in the future.

The study looked at how technology impacts upon all aspects of consumers’ lives and where we could benefit from understanding it better or using it to advance the quality of life.

Why did BT do this research?

We believe that it’s useful, every so often, to stop and take stock; to consider where we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going.

Over the last 10 years, communications companies like BT have presented people with a wealth of new services and new capabilities, offering new ways to communicate, to live and to work. Sometimes, the pace of change means that the significance of this innovation can get lost on us, or taken for granted.

That’s why BT has commissioned this research report. We wanted to take the temperature of how people in Britain feel about communications services in the early 21st century, to understand how they feel about what businesses like BT do for them, and to learn more about their hopes and expectations of what we can do in the future.

How was the research carried out?

BT worked in conjunction with Ipsos MORI to undertake a three stage research study into the usage and attitudes of the general public towards technology in the 21st Century. This involved extensive desk research to establish a benchmark of life in Britain ten years ago, a nationwide survey comprising a total of 2,006 confidential face to face interviews conducted in-home across Great Britain between January 25th and January 31st 2008 and finally, a supplementary survey with 618 16-35 year olds, conducted in-home between May 2nd and 8th 2008. The results quoted above are based on data which have been weighted to be nationally representative.

The 1998 MORI study, which was used to benchmark the findings of the 2008 study, was also conducted face to face amongst 2,124 members of the general public across Great Britain.