How young people use smartphones
The vast majority of Swiss teenagers own a smartphone. They use it primarily to listen to music or browse the Internet. Making phone calls ranks only third.
The proportion of smartphones among 12 to 19-year-olds has risen from 79% to 97% in the last two years; only one percent still own a normal cell phone. Young people are making full use of the possibilities of the smartphone. It has become a multifunctional device, said Daniel Süss, head of a study presented in Basel on Thursday.
Since 2010, the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) has been surveying over 1,000 young people in the three language regions of Switzerland on behalf of Swisscom. The first James study was published in 2010 and the next one in 2012.
The latest study shows that the use of the Internet has changed the most since 2010: four years ago, only 16% of the young people surveyed used their cell phones to surf the net daily or several times a week, but this figure has now risen to 87%. Over the same period, phone use has fallen from 80% to 71%. Cell phones are also increasingly being used as portable games consoles.
Facebook remains popular
Girls often listen to music or take photos, while boys play video games or watch movies. It is striking that young people are consulting the news portals of daily newspapers more and more often. On the other hand, consumption of free newspapers fell from 49 to 35 percent in 2012. The survey also showed that 99% of households in which young people live have computers or laptops with Internet access. The daily surfing time during the week was two hours; this has not changed since 2010. "That's astonishing," said Süss. Behavior at the weekend (three hours a day) has also remained the same.
According to the survey, three out of four Swiss young people regularly exchange information on social networks on the internet. 89% are registered on at least one social network. Facebook is still the most popular, closely followed by Instagram, which is particularly popular among younger people. Twitter follows in fourth place after Google+.
81 percent of respondents stated that they had activated the privacy setting, and 56 percent regularly update this setting. One in five young people have been approached online with unwanted sexual intentions. 12% stated that false or offensive information had been spread about them online.
Boys receptive to brutal movies
More than half of young people, and particularly boys, stated that they had watched violent videos on their cell phone or computer. 12 percent had sent such films. Nine percent filmed a staged fight and six filmed a real fight.
Porn or erotic films were consumed by 43% of respondents, with boys clearly in the majority here too. Eight percent of respondents sent provocative photos or videos of themselves. Girls do this very rarely, while boys are not so reticent.
The most common leisure activities have changed little in the last four years. "Meeting friends" has always been at the top of the list. 64 percent said they do sport, 60 percent "rest". Every day or several times a week, 29% play music (2010: 32%).
The young people were surveyed in class in May and June 2014. The full study will be available in January 2015. (SDA)
Teaser image: Keystone
