As in recent years, Bezeq is also publishing its big Internet survey this year, and this time it includes children from the age of 8. What are they doing online? Want to be stars and take care of the likes

• Want to be Neta Elhmeister // Photo: Coco

55% of children aged 8 to 12 produce dedicated YouTube content at least once a week and 35% of children upload at least one video. This is the sixth annual report on the state of the Internet in Israel that Bezeq publishes. The most coveted profession among children is a network star with 23%, compared to a soccer player with 15%, or a singer with only 8%.

The report shows how children share content to fulfill their desire to become a network star. About one-third of teens check the likes every few minutes and 59% of teens feel disappointed by the amount of likes they received.

The report, which reviews Israel's use and behavior in the digital age, is based on in-depth research conducted by Bezeq on Internet usage patterns in Israel, its governing trends and its various uses, as well as data from the company's operations and systems. - EDGE.

The survey included a national sample among 1400 respondents aged 13+ from all sectors, and the survey also included a sample of children aged 8-12 for the first time. The survey and infrastructure data collected from Bezeq systems, together with market data analysis, include various categories that reflect the state of life in Israel in the digital age of 2019.

The survey also found that parents versus young people do not find the network as safe for their children: their main concern is sexual harassment, shaming, boycotting and disseminating negative information about their children online. The report found that parents are active and making efforts to keep their children online, and that 75% of parents reported that they were rummaging through their children's watsap, and 37% of parents were using content monitoring and filtering services.

According to Bezeq's vice president of marketing and innovation, Keren Lazarowitz, it was decided this year to first integrate the young age group, "because we identified its dominance in the network. The young age group born into the network seems to refer to virtual space as part of the physical space we all live in. The data from the report support this and show that the younger generation is more on the networks, is responsible for the dangers on the network and takes a limited guarantee of the content exposed on the network. "

Social networks make a sense of belonging with about 70% claiming to be part of a community and at the same time over 36% claim that the network really helps them get emotional support. At the same time, about 50% claim that the network serves as a platform for optimal expression. However, the social network also puts stress on us, with 45% of teenagers saying that the network makes them feel that others' lives are happier and 55% of teenagers feel they are missing out on fun experiences that others are experiencing (FOMO - Fear of missing out). These figures are also well reflected in the simulated reality phenomenon that the network sometimes creates, with 60% of youth admitting to uploading pinker images than reality.

Podcasts on the rise

The report found that the average age of receiving a smartphone is 10. However, parents understand that screen viewing time should be limited, with 85% of parents in 2019 limiting screen viewing time to only 3 hours a day, up from 57% in 2018 .

The podcasts are gaining momentum when a third of Israelis report listening to the podcast and doing so mainly while traveling. The main topics they listen to are history, economics and high-tech. The report also shows that we are watching TV while doing mobile phone surfing. The phenomenon is getting stronger as age goes down, with 75% of teenagers (ages 13-17) stating that they are surfing on mobile while watching TV, compared to 45% of adults (age 55 and above).

And to conclude some infrastructure numbers: At the end of 2019, the number of Internet users in Israel is about 6.6 million. The average user currently downloads files at an average of about 9 GB per day. The cloud sector continues to gain momentum, with 76% backing up photos and videos and retaining information in the cloud, 27% of Israeli homes are smart, while about a quarter of surfers have experienced cyber attacks.