Smartphone catches up with television
The IGEM Digimonitor, which is conducted in collaboration with WEMF, maps the use of various devices for entertainment and communication (TV, radio, PC, laptop, smartphone, tablet) by the population in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland. The 2015 edition shows that the smartphone has now become as important as television (see chart). Among young people aged 15 to 24, there are even very few who do not use a smartphone at least daily.
More and more people are using their smartphones at home. Among the population as a whole, this figure is now two thirds, and even 95% among young people. This indicates that they in particular are increasingly living in households without a landline. This documents how important it is that the IGEM-digiMONITOR also covers this segment of the population. However, smartphones are also being used much more at work or at school and on public transport than they were a year ago. The most common device is an iPhone, followed by Android devices. All other operating systems only achieve low single-digit figures. However, the proportion of respondents who do not know which operating system their smartphone runs on has also increased - even among young people. Those who do know rely on Apple products to an above-average extent, while devices with Android (such as those from Samsung) lag far behind. Regardless of the operating system, live television on the smartphone is becoming increasingly important, especially among young people. At least a quarter do this at least occasionally. The Internet is also being used more and more frequently via a smartphone - especially by young people. This also applies to e-banking, which is gaining a foothold on smartphones, albeit tentatively but increasingly.
Young people leave Facebook
In general, the proportion of young people who use social media at least occasionally and privately has fallen to just under 80%. Although most of them still use Facebook on some kind of device, the figure was significantly higher a year ago. Instagram, on the other hand, has gained massively in importance among boys and is now used by more than half of them. YouTube has also increased again from an already very high level. And almost all boys can be reached via WhatsApp.
In the overall population aged 15 and over, however, the situation is somewhat different. Facebook is still used by less than half, while WhatsApp will soon be used by two thirds. YouTube achieves a similar but constant value. Google+, on the other hand, is not really getting off the ground, being used by less than 20% of the total population and dropping by around ten points to the average value among young people.
