UK web users now spend over ten times longer "lost" on the internet than they do on foot or in the car, new research from MSN Search has revealed.

Misadventures in cyberspace mean we risk losing over a day (28 hours) online a year - or a cumulative 14.7 million days across the UK internet population.

The MSN Search report questioned nearly 12,000 people in ten European countries to find out how, why and where they search for information to ensure MSN Search continuously evolves to help customers find what they are looking for, faster.

The findings show that the internet has firmly overtaken friends and family as the top way to keep abreast of information, with nearly over half (55 per cent) of Brits citing the net as their top source of information and trivia.

When we want a quick answer to a question, over three-quarters (78 per cent) said that they would use the internet rather than their dad (three per cent), their partner ( four per cent) or dictionary/reference books (five per cent).

Sadly, teachers came in last of the list for Brits, with under one per cent turning to them for information and four in ten (41 per cent) opting instead to use the internet to help with exam revision.

The report places Brits as some of the most efficient internet searchers.

The average European notches up over a day-andahalf (32 hours) online a year, four hours more than people in the UK.

This is despite Brits being just as likely as the rest of Europe to turn to the internet as their main source of information - over half (55 per cent) cited the internet as their first port of call for any information, compared to 58 per cent across the rest of Europe.

But getting lost and not finding the answers being searched for is a huge online turn off across Europe. Over two-thirds of Brits (69 per cent) said they often gave up online searches because they couldn't find the answers they were looking for.

While women's map reading skills used to be the butt of sexist jokes, over half of British men (54 per cent) now claim to also be superior to their partners at finding their way around online. And women seem to agree, with only a third (37 per cent) of women thinking their web navigation skills are superior.

While people search the internet for all sorts of information, the decrease in free time means we are researching our leisure choices in more detail online to make better use of the limited time we do have.

MSN's research also suggests that search services are now also one of the main tools for job hunters in the UK.