How US Consumers Lived Their Best Digital Lives in 2022

2022 marked many consumers’ triumphant return to the physical world after two years of pandemic-related restrictions — but even after options have opened up, their appetite for digital commerce experiences has not gone away. PYMNTS’ research finds that consumers used digital in their everyday lives 10 percent more in November 2022 than in November 2021, and this upward trend shows no sign of stopping.

“12 Months Of The ConnectedEconomy™: 33,000 Consumers On Digital’s Role In Their Everyday Lives” details how consumers’ use of digital in their everyday lives reshaped their routines from November 2021 to November 2022.  We drew from survey data collected from more than 33,000 consumers to detail the key areas where consumers’ demand for digital methods is growing fastest and explore what that might mean for the digital economy in 2023.

Key findings from our research include the following:

• Consumers were using digital methods to conduct their day-to-day routines 10 percent more by the end of 2022 than they were a year before. We observed sustained, long-term increases in how much consumers used digital to engage in nearly every type of the 67 activities we tracked between November 2021 and November 2022.

• Consumers increased their use of social media and messaging apps more than any other digital activity. Consumers were 18 percent more likely to use these platforms to socialize in November 2022 than in January.

• Fifty-eight percent of consumers are now part of the hybrid workforce, working both in person and remotely. This is nearly double the share of consumers who work entirely in person and four times the share who work entirely online.

These are only a few trends we uncovered during our last 12 months of research. The ConnectedEconomy™ 2022 Recap provides first-hand insight into how digital channels are changing consumers’ routines.

To learn more about how the ConnectedEconomy™ reshaped consumers’ lives in 2022, download the report.