ALMOST HALF of Irish adults have now adopted the modern phenomenon of ‘two-screening’ – using a laptop, smartphone or tablet device to discuss a TV broadcast while they watch it.

A survey from Sky shows that nearly 50 per cent of adults use the devices to comment on what they’re watching and to discuss the contents of broadcasts.

70 per cent said they would use Facebook to discuss what they’re watching, while nearly half of respondents said they would regularly send text messages to friends commenting on a TV show.

The survey also revealed that Irish internet users are moving more and more to watching TV online, instead of through a traditional TV set: the average adult now spends 6 hours and 52 minutes downloading or streaming movies or TV shows each week.

Two-thirds of adults said they watched TV online, with a higher proportion doing so on a laptop or smartphone – with movies, drama and documentaries the most popular genres of programming to watch.

Ownership of laptops – and particularly tablets – is set to increase; nine out of ten homes who responded to Sky’s survey said they had laptops, while only half said they had a traditional desktop PC.

Half of all homes expected to have bought a tablet device by the end of 2013, marking growth of 20 per cent across the year.