«For me, media are...»

Is the media use of children and young people really as excessive and thoughtless as adults often assume? We asked them how they themselves see their media use.

Ladina, 17, from Niederwil

"My mobile phone is very important to me. It's difficult to estimate how long I spend on it every day - but it's about three to four hours in total. I can do without it - I prove that every day at work or when I meet up with colleagues. But when I'm alone and bored, I have my mobile phone in my hand. Then I play poker, billiards or the strategy game Boombeach, or I listen to music. I also watch my favourite series «Berlin Tag & Nacht» in the evening to relax. It's also on TV, but our TV isn't connected. We only use it to watch DVDs. That's because my parents grew up without a television.
My parents tried to enforce mobile phone rules for a while - for example, that I shouldn't take my mobile phone to bed at night or that I shouldn't be online for too long. But these rules have always been forgotten. The only time I leave my mobile phone in my room is when we eat together - that's a matter of course. Otherwise, I realise it myself when I go overboard. For example, when I played Hayday for a while. It was highly addictive. A colleague and I then decided to switch it off again - because we couldn't find anything else to do.

Ladina's family doesn't use a television. But the 17-year-old finds ways to watch her favourite series.
Ladina's family doesn't use a television. But the 17-year-old finds ways to watch her favourite series.

My father still has an old push-button phone, but my mum recently got a smartphone. Since then, she understands me better because you can do so much with this device. I also often use it as a camera. Every now and then I take a selfie, which also becomes my new profile picture on Facebook. But I don't use any other social networks.
I find Instagram strange - everyone looks the same because of the photo filters. I think it's a thing for anyone who needs more self-confidence. I have my best photos, from holidays or concerts, developed and stick them in an album. There are far too many photos on the computer. But I think you look at paper albums again and again."

Mika, 8, from Zurich

«When I'm really interested in something, I forget everything else around it. I sometimes do that with films. Or when I'm feeding my mice or playing football. You can talk to me and I don't realise it. But also with books - I really like "Greg's Diary». Sometimes it's so boring that it's funny again.
As I have a somewhat complicated route to school, we are supposed to have a mobile phone. So that the teacher can contact us in an emergency. That's when a discussion started at home about whether I could have my grandmother's old iPhone. I really wanted one because I also want to write text messages and I can't use the old mobile phone keypad. I'm only used to touchscreens. My parents were against it, they wanted to wait until I was at sixth form at least. Well, now I have the iPhone, but I'm not allowed to do much with it: Internet only with WLAN, no apps, no games. I'd love to play FIFA 15 and use WhatsApp, but I don't like discussing things either. So that's just the way it is now.

His mice, books, films, football and the iPhone. There are many things that are important to Mika.
His mice, books, films, football and the iPhone. There are many things that are important to Mika.

And I don't need much from the internet. My brother and I just print out pictures of footballers from time to time and hang them on the wall. My mum also helps us to get them into the right format because she's a graphic designer. Otherwise, there are hardly any rules at home. Sometimes, we all watch a film together and play games on our mobile phones or tablets. The other day I was typing a text message and explaining to my mum the difference between F and V, as we learnt at school: You don't catch any apples with F, you catch lots with V. Writing is more fun with a mobile phone.
But you can also do without it. We spent a week at school camp without any electrical devices and I didn't miss the screens at home at all. If there are enough other children around, it's not a problem."

Julia, 12, from Zurich

«Well, what I really do every day is listen to music. That's very important to me. I come home from school, where we're not allowed to use our smartphones, and connect my iPhone to the speakers in my room. With the Playtube app, you can listen to songs once online and then they are on your mobile phone so that you can listen to them again and again even without Wi-Fi. I don't know how it works with music rights.
I also like watching YouTube videos by comedians. For example, "Bibi's Beauty Palace» from Germany. Bibi talks to us every week as if we were her friends - I think that's cool, but I've never felt the need to reply in the comments section or anything. I prefer to write to my colleagues - I think maybe 30 WhatsApp messages a day. But that's not a lot. I already have two class chats that I have to reply to. I'm not an addict or anything. There are others. A colleague of mine wrote several hundred messages a day when she was new to WhatsApp - I had to tell her that it wasn't possible, that it was annoying.

Listening to music means a lot to Julia - and of course she does it on her smartphone.
Listening to music means a lot to Julia - and of course she does it on her smartphone.

By the way, adults wouldn't understand what we write: «WM?» means «What are you doing?», for example. The answer is then: «C. WMD?», i.e. «Chatting. What are you doing?».
Until recently, I had an age filter on my mobile phone - but that was stupid because it meant I couldn't watch videos. Now my parents have removed it.
I used to talk to my parents a lot about what I was doing, what pictures I should post and so on. But hardly any more, now I know that. Nobody is allowed to use a mobile phone at dinner - not even Dad. And we hand in our mobile phones at 9pm in the evening. I actually think that's a good thing. That way I still get to read. I'm currently reading a crime novel - and it's so exciting that I want to read the second part as well."

Read more:

  • Smartphone generation
  • «Social networks are the children's revenge!»
  • 22 questions and answers on media education