Always online? Young people reflect on media use better than adults!
Today, the Federal Commission for Children and Youth Affairs (FCYA) published the brochure «Always on. How do young people experience being online all the time?». It presents the most important results of a survey of 1001 Swiss young people aged between 16 and 25 - as well as a control group of 40-55-year-olds.
Young people are online much more often than adults. But ...
Digital media is very important to young people and is used intensively and in a variety of ways. In their free time, 16 to 25-year-olds spend an average of four hours a day online, compared to two and a half hours for 40 to 55-year-olds. Instant messaging, social media, e-mail and video portals are used extensively. Young people particularly appreciate being in contact with other people, looking for information for school and work or simply having fun.
Participants were also asked how they felt about their online behaviour. «The study shows that young people are not defenceless and lost on their screens, but that they generally think more about their internet use than adults. They think a lot about the consequences of being online all the time,» explained Sami Kanaan, President of the EKKJ.
"Half of young people think it' s positive. The other half are more ambivalent: although they see the positive aspects, they also emphasise the stress factor. For example, one in three young people feel pressurised by applications that reward regular use and one in four get nervous if they are not online for a while," Sami Kanaan explains.
Almost all young people have tips & tricks for self-regulation
The survey found that 95 per cent of young people use at least one strategy to cope with the many online notifications. For example, they say:
- «Ich bin mir bewusst, dass ich Nachrichten nicht sofort beantworten muss, bei dringenden Fragen kann man mich ja anrufen.»
- «Apps mit denen ich zu viel Zeit verwende, lösche ich wieder.»
- «Ich benutze Apps, die die Zeit begrenzen, die ich vor dem Bildschirm verbringe.»
- «Ich deaktiviere überall die Benachrichtigungsfunktion.»
Two in five young people set rules about when and for how long they are online: Young people (16-20 years) are increasingly focussing on self-regulation and are offline more often than young adults (21-25 years).
Frequent users are also more concerned
The study also focussed on the ten percent of young people who spend more time online than their peers (5.4 hours per day on average). The study makes it clear that this group of young people question the negative and positive effects of being online all the time to a greater extent. They set themselves more rules, but have withdrawal symptoms when they are not online.
«Young people think a lot and have a lot of experience. The aim is not to play down the challenges of intensive online use, but to show how important and beneficial it is to involve young people in discussions or decisions on relevant topics. They bring valuable expertise that opens up different perspectives for adults,» says Sami Kanaan.
«Always on»: information on the survey
On behalf of the EKKJ, the School of Social Work at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), with the support of M.I.S. Trend, conducted a representative survey of 1001 young people aged between 16 and 25 and a comparison group of 390 people aged between 40 and 55. The questions related to the type and duration of online activities, the importance attached to them and the regulatory strategies found for dealing with being online all the time.
The most important results are summarised in thebrochure «Always on. How do young people experience being online all the time?» on the EKKJ website. A detailed research report was published by the FHNW and is available at www.alwayson-studie.ch .
Read more about media education:
- Smart with your first smartphone: suggestions for media rules and a template for a smartphone contract with your child