If anyone has been walking the streets in recent months wondering where everyone has gone, part of the answer may be found in the State of the Internet in Israel 2022 report published today (Monday) by the Bezeq communications company for the ninth year.
According to the report, based on the company's data and a survey conducted among 4,500 surfers, including children, teenagers and ultra-Orthodox, despite the relative return to normality after the Corona crisis and the closures it brought with it, the growth in digital consumption among Israeli surfers has not stopped.
The report also shows that for the first time, screen time has crossed half of the day with 12.4 hours a day in front of the smartphone, computer, tablet or television screen. The main increase in consumption is for leisure purposes such as surfing the Internet, games, social networks and watching television, and a decrease was recorded in use for educational purposes and work
Trying to reduce (illustration), photo: Reuters
Another reason the report points to is children's use of social networks, sometimes even among children less than 9 years old, and a jump in daily playing hours.
According to the report, the number of daily gaming hours jumped from 2.1 hours in 2021 to 2.6 hours in 2022.
It is interesting because this is a figure that concerns the audience of mature digital users.
Bezeq reports that the increase in usage time is also seen in the company's data, which indicates a jump in the amount of data consumed, from 12 gigabytes per day during the Corona period in 2020 and 2021, to 15 gigabytes per day in 2022.
Before the corona, the daily average was 9 gigabytes in 2019.
80% of ultra-orthodox are connected
This year, the report examined for the first time the scope of digital use among the ultra-Orthodox population as well.
The report indicates that 80% of the ultra-orthodox are digitally connected in one way or another, with 54% of them using WhatsApp, and for 72% of them it is an integral part of life.
For 69% of them, WhatsApp is used as a means of receiving information, and not only as a means of communication with friends and family.
Moreover, for a considerable proportion of the ultra-Orthodox who use WhatsApp, the influence of the information in the application outweighs the influence of the information they receive in the community.
33% said that sometimes it is possible to settle for influencers instead of turning to the community.
The topics in which ultra-Orthodox follow influencers are first and foremost food, fashion and makeup, with 50% of ultra-Orthodox WhatsApp users.
The topics further down the list are family (48%), religion and Judaism (44%), children (35%), business management and livelihood (35%), health (24%) and politics at the bottom of the list with only 8% of WhatsApp users.
The youth is less on social networks
These trends are also seen in the general usage data on social networks, especially among teenagers.
According to a Bezeq report, all social networks suffer from a decrease in the scope of use among the youth, including Tiktok, Instagram, Telegram and even WhatsApp.
The extent of use of Tiktok by teenagers decreased from 54% in 2021 to 41% in 2022.
Instagram dropped from 71% to 59%.
Telegram dropped from 34% to 23% and WhatsApp dropped from 92% to 87%.
At the same time, among the adults, the scope of use of Facebook decreased, and the "young" networks Tiktok, Telegram and YouTube increased.
A decrease was also recorded in the consumption of the Netflix streaming service among all ages, and especially among the youth and young adults.
Among 18-34 year olds, the rate of Netflix viewers dropped from 66% in 2020 to 45% in 2022.
Among the youth, the percentage of viewers dropped from 63% in 2021 to 49% in 2022.
Avoid the Internet on Shabbat, turn off the websites
At the same time as consumption increases, the report indicates that users are not happy with the situation and are limiting their level of connection.
In 2022, 55% of users took their mobile out of the bedroom at night compared to 38% the previous year.
38% do not surf on Shabbat for reasons other than religion, compared to 29% in 2021.
And if the public space sounds quieter to you recently, it may be because 73% of users turned off the sites from WhatsApp and social networks.
Moreover, many users choose to disconnect from social networks.
33% of the respondents know someone who took a break from social networks, and 37% claimed that they would consider taking a break from one of the networks and close their profile on them.
47% of the respondents already reported that social networks are used less to maintain relationships compared to the past.
55% have already reported that they share less personal content compared to the past.
It is possible that this trend will only continue and get stronger in light of the survey findings regarding the desires of the users, especially the youth.
According to the report, in the three years that have passed, the proportion of teenagers who claimed that they would like to limit their screen time, but are unable to do so, has increased.
At the same time, the proportion of teenagers and adults who reported that they do limit their screen time increased, from 34% to 44% among the youth, and from 39% to 46% among the adults.
It was also found that 62% of the children would like a break from the mobile in favor of playing games with friends outside in the physical space.
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