More than half of young people say they use their cell phone “too much”

53.2% of young people claim that they use their

smartphone

“too much” , and the vast majority recognize that they live with “a certain lack of control” and “dependency” in their relationship with social networks: 70.8% are not aware of everything the time spent in them and 64.3% want to see them at all times.

These are some of the data from the latest study by the Fad Juventud foundation

From the dark side of technological habits

presented this Wednesday, in which 1,500 kids between 15 and 29 years old were asked about the risks of using technology.

"For years we have seen that we are facing a paradigm shift, almost 30% of young people have their profiles on networks completely public and do not control what information they publish nor do they take into account privacy management, in fact 40% did not receive recommendation from anyone around them on how to improve their security or behave on the Internet,” says Alejandro Gómez, researcher at Fad.

Within this excessive use of social networks, three out of every 10 young people see it as important for their self-esteem to obtain “likes” (28.4% men and 31.1% women), at the same time that they are worried about receiving negative reactions for their physical appearance (23.9% men and 35.2% women).

Precisely because of the importance they give to achieving positive reactions, 20.2% of them admit that they retouch the photos they upload very frequently.

Furthermore, the study by Fad Juventud - born in 1986 to prevent drug consumption among young people and currently focused on sociological research into their way of life and habits - points out that young people neglect other necessary activities due to the time they dedicate to technology: what they most neglect is sleeping (42.5%) and studying (40.5%), followed by playing sports (30.1%), reading (29.5%) and being with friends (22.6%). %).

For this reason, the majority of those surveyed have felt “saturation” or “fed up” in the last year and need to “disconnect”: 30.1% very frequently.

47.4% of them “strongly agree” that they feel obliged to always carry their cell phone with them, 40.8% feel the need to constantly check if they have notifications and 32.9% use it in places or situations where it is not appropriate.

Another worrying point that the research points out is that when they have problems with the Internet or with the use of technological devices, they mainly turn to their friends (27.5%), their partner (18.9%) and then to family and friends. teachers (18.9% say they solve problems on their own).

“They know the dangers, but they ask for help from their peers, not from adults.

They show resistance to seeking this help from their elders, which poses challenges in terms of guidance and support,” considers Beatriz Martín, general director of Fad Juventud, who points out that in the midst of the debate on the protection of minors from digital risks, “it is "It is very worrying that 40% claim that they do not receive any type of training on how to deal with them."

“It is a complex challenge, but we cannot settle for simplistic solutions.

The sooner and better we exercise our responsibility as active and committed agents of media literacy, the less vulnerable our adolescents will be,” adds Martín.

The Government has already made a move and last January approved the creation of a group of 50 experts to analyze the impact of technologies on minors and generate a document that serves as a basis for the preparation of a bill for the comprehensive protection of minors on the internet.

Added to this is the design of a new “effective” age verification tool for online platforms that the Spanish Data Protection Agency is developing together with the National Mint and Stamp Factory, which could be ready by summer.

Instagram, the

most used

app

82.9% of the young people surveyed acknowledge that they chat every day;

77.6% who watch online videos daily;

75.8% who listen to music on their mobile phone or other devices and 68.4% who use social networks.

The most used (82.9%) is Instagram, followed by YouTube (73.5%) and TikTok (69.5%).

Of the different situations that can occur on the Internet and that involve risks and problems, they are most concerned about: being a victim of scams, scams or fraud (37.7%), the dissemination of compromised photos or videos without their consent (37. .4%) and identity theft (30.6%).

If these concerns are analyzed based on gender, differences are observed, since women are more concerned about the dissemination of compromising photos or videos, sexual harassment and hate messages, while men are more concerned about addiction to gambling (19.7% compared to 11.1% of women).

When asked what risk situations they have experienced quite or very frequently in the last year, the most mentioned is “blocking profiles on their social networks due to insults or harassment” (19.6%), “receiving messages/videos of a sexual nature without consent” (18.3%), “avoid uploading content for fear of harassment or insult” (16.5%) or “having been the object of hate messages” (14.8%), and “having received insults or harassment from unknown people” (14.4%).

The danger of misinformation

Almost half (48.9%) believe that, quite or very frequently, they see false or dubious content on the Internet.

Despite this, only 42.3% regularly contrast what they consider questionable, with 45.2% sharing or forwarding news that they later learned was false.

One in four people between 15 and 19 years old, and also one in four of those who have completed compulsory secondary education, never or almost never checks dubious content.

And what do they claim not to do so?

Confidence in their own ability to identify which content is reliable and which is not (27.2%) and laziness (25.6%), well above the recognition of the inability to do so (14.4%).

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