Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat are some of the most popular
online platforms among teens. More than 60% of the teens have access to a
smartphone, since they were twelve years old or even younger and fully 92%
say they use their phone for more than 2 hours every day.
Until recently, Youtube and Whatsapp had dominated the social media
landscape among Europeans, especially Germanys, youth – but it is no longer
the most popular online platform among teens, according to our survey.
Nowadays, not even the half of European teens (ages 10 to 18) say they use one
of those devices, Youtube (22.8%) or Whatsapp (19%) the most, notably lower
than the ones who use Instagram (49.4) the most.
Notably, smartphone ownership has become a nearly ubiquitous element of teen
life: nearly 100% of German teens now report, they own a smartphone. And
over three quarters (79.7 %) use this device the most. Just 11.4 % of the
18th – 22nd March 2019
Teenagers state that they use Laptops or Computers mostly, usually for playing
games or working on school exercises. And not even 9% of the students use
Tablets or TV.
All in all, you can say that social media became an indispensable part of our
social life and plays an important role for the interconnection between students.
So normal things just like holding contact with friends worldwide, doing
research for some homework or learning for exams were inconceivable without
using such devices as mobile phones or iPads.
However, it´s not all roses and many aspects of websites like Youtube and
Facebook have been criticized in the last time. And the cry of "fake news" has
become commonplace and teenager confidence in even traditional media outlets
has been significantly eroded but there are also other problems just like
cyberbullying or the fact that teens are still likely to be exposed to unsavoury
people, unhealthy images, and sexual content online. So, it isn´t a huge surprise
that many mental health professionals are deeply concerned about the impact
that social media has on mental health.
But there is also another important topic: Addiction. Over 75% assume that it
would be better if they would lower their media consume because of different
reasons. Some of the teenagers are afraid that the constant media consume can
cause short-sightedness and others assume that it can harm their scholastic
achievement.
It´s a complex topic and as a conclusion we can say that Facebook, Instagram,
Whatsapp and so on can be great ways for teens to connect with one another.
But social media can be problematic for several reasons.
Teens, Social Media & Technology 2019