The widespread proliferation of online technology has made people more impatient in their day-to-day dealings on the internet, according to a technology expert.

Managing director of System Concepts Tom Stewart said that having to wait for emails to download or appear on screen can cause many people to get more jittery and annoyed, as many expect it to be instantaneous.

He added that back in the day, a reply returned by the postal service within a week was considered quick and did not result in the same level of impatience.

Mr Stewart continued: "It has dramatically changed expectations, which is misleading because you can never know if that person is actually there [to reply to your email]. It's making us much faster in ways that aren't really necessary."

According to the most recent statistics about online use in the UK provided by the Office for National Statistics in August, 16 million households in the UK now have internet access, an increase of one million on 2007.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent).