Brave new digital world: First check the WiFi, spend the day playing games from the sofa, chat with friends via chat, watch TikTok videos or just chill out while watching a music video – for more and more young people, social life is increasingly taking place online and via social media.
After a current study 92 percent of young people and children aged six and over use the Internet. 85 percent of them use a smartphone. They spend an average of two hours a day on it. 93 percent of children and young people aged ten and over are active on social networks – they spend a good one and a half hours (95 minutes) there every day.
Bitkom study: The phenomenon in numbers
These are the results of a representative study commissioned by the digital association Bitkom, for which more than 900 children and young people between the ages of six and 18 in Germany were questioned about their usage behavior. The information is based on self-reports by users, in the case of younger children in the presence of their parents.
The smartphone has long since become an everyday companion. According to the study, the amount of time spent using a smartphone increases significantly with age: while children between 6 and 9 years of age spend 37 minutes a day, the amount of time spent using a smartphone has almost tripled to 107 minutes for those between the ages of ten and twelve.
Between the ages of 13 and 15, the average smartphone time increases to a good two and a half hours (154 minutes) per day. And 16 to 18-year-old smartphone users say they spend even more than three hours a day (201 minutes) on their smartphones.
A “head down” generation is growing up
Even among the youngest respondents between the ages of six and nine, almost two-thirds (64 percent) use a smartphone. While 88 percent of ten- to twelve-year-olds use a smartphone, almost all of the older ones do so: 97 percent of young people between the ages of 13 and 15 and even 98 percent of 16- to 18-year-olds.
The smartphone era began in the early 1990s with IBM’s “Simon Personal Communicator” (SPC), which came onto the market in 1994. The almost widespread use of smartphones began with the introduction of the first iPhone by Apple in 2007. This was the basis for modern smartphones with its intuitive touchscreen operation and the introduction of an app ecosystem.
The smartphone has now become an indispensable part of everyday life for almost everyone, including young people, not least because everything is bundled in one device: access to the Internet, music, a camera including image editing, an alarm clock, games, emails, chat apps, videos, city maps and even books. Not to mention the social contact options.
According to the Bitkom study, most young people use their smartphones for text messages (90 percent) and to listen to music, radio plays or podcasts (89 percent). This is followed by taking photos or videos, playing games, sending voice messages and making phone calls. 71 percent use their smartphones to be active on social networks, 53 percent for navigation and half of those surveyed (51 percent) also use them for learning programs. 49 percent watch videos, films or series. 35 percent of young people say they read news articles on their smartphones.
93 percent use social networks
Whether via smartphone, laptop or tablet – a total of 93 percent of children and young people between the ages of ten and 18 use social networks, mostly on a daily basis. Across all age groups, YouTube leads the way with 87 percent, followed by Instagram and Snapchat with 53 percent each. A good half (51 percent) of children and young people between the ages of ten and 18 also use TikTok.
The amount of time spent on social media is also increasing: on average, children and young people between the ages of ten and 18 estimate that they spend 95 minutes a day on social networks. The older ones spend more than twice as much time on Insta, Snapchat and the like as the youngest: the age group between ten and eleven years old spends less than an hour (51 minutes) on social media every day, while the oldest respondents, aged between 16 and 18, spend more than two hours a day (an average of 134 minutes).
Unimaginable for a third: Life without social media
A third (33 percent) say they cannot imagine life without social media. 24 percent are afraid of missing out on something if they are not on social networks. In general, the majority of children and young people (57 percent) can no longer imagine life without the Internet. More than half (52 percent) of children and young people aged ten and over also think that life would be boring without the Internet.
It is not always easy topics that children and young people come into contact with on the Internet. Four out of ten children aged ten and over who use the Internet have read hate comments about others. A third have seen things online that have frightened them, including violence.
Blue light report on screen sleep deprivation
Danish researchers reported back in 2021 that children not only sleep less, but also sleep worse when they use smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices in the evening, after a total of 49 studies from 2009 to 2019 were evaluated.
Regardless of the age group, the blue light from switched-on screens suppresses the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. The consequences of this deficiency are a shorter sleep duration and a disruption of the natural sleep-wake cycle. The consequences of this, in turn, can be part of a fatal vicious circle: children who sleep worse are more likely to be tired during the day and tend to use media more because they feel too tired for other activities such as sports.
When physical activity is replaced by media consumption
Reduced sleep also changes the balance of appetite-regulating hormones and can lead to more eating after meals and at night. And that is where the next cog in the Circle Vicious the vicious circle:
Children who spend more time in front of screens are more likely to be overweight or obese. This was shown by a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation In addition to the influence on physical health, many studies are now also devoted to the effects of media use on mental health. Among other things, a study by JAMA Pediatrics onthat increased use of social media and television is associated with an increase in depressive symptoms.
Programmed dependence through happiness hormones
Screen activities not only offer an escape from everyday life, they can be addictive: When the brain is fed something new and exciting, it releases dopamine. This “messenger of happiness” creates a feeling of well-being, while reduced dopamine leads to listlessness and a depressed mood. Anything that results in a dopamine release can be addictive. This also applies to all screen activities, because not only video games, which trigger veritable “dopamine showers”, or TikTok videos are designed to capture our attention by regularly causing the happiness hormone to be released. The result is that we are seduced to spend more time in the virtual world.
Studies on Internet addiction in children during the pandemic are rare, but a US study Adult study A 2021 study found that people considered at risk for internet addiction had a 2.3-fold higher risk of depression and a 1.9-fold higher risk of anxiety than the average population. For severe addiction, that risk increased by 13-fold, Epoch Times reported.
Should media literacy be taught or regulated by law?
Children need to be guided early on and accompanied on their journey into the digital world. They need to learn to move safely and independently in the digital world.”
This is what Bitkom President Dr. Ralf Wintergerst said in response to the study that his company commissioned. Media literacy should not be left to chance and should not be limited to those children who have committed and competent parents. Schools also play a crucial role. “Media literacy should be taught in every grade,” said the Bitkom President.
But is parental education or school instruction enough to counteract the complex mechanisms that lead to children using the Internet more and for longer? Because of the effects of social networks, many French people are currently calling for stronger legal regulation, and Prime Minister Macron is also in favor of a Europe-wide digital adult age of 15.
